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PAPER MANIKIN. 



Ipdex bo Paper? /Aapil^n, 



A. Cerebrum, or Large Brain. 

B. Cerebellum, or Small Brain. 

C. Spinal Cord. 

D. Vertebrae. 
E Eyeball. 

F. Nasal Cavity. 

(i. Tongue. 

H. Larynx, or Voice Box. 

I. Trachea. 

J. Bloodvessels of Lungs. 

K. Bronchial Tubes. 

R. A. Right Auricle of Heart. 

L. A. Left Auricle of Heart. 

R, V. Right Ventricle of Heart 

L. V. Left Ventricle of Heart. 

Copyrighted, l 



Ipdex bo Papci? ^Aapil^n. 



A. Cerebrum, or Large Brain. 

B. Cerebellum, or Small Brain. 

C. Spinal Cord. 

D. Vertebrae. 
E Eyeball. 

F. Nasal Cavity. 

G. Tongue. 

H. Larynx, or Voice Box. 

I. Trachea. 

J. Bloodvessels of Lungs. 

K. Bronchial Tubes. 

R, A. Right Auricle of Heart. 

L. A. Left Auricle of Heart. 

R, V. Right Ventricle of Heart, 

L. V. Left Ventricle of Heart. 

Copyrighted, 1886. 











H 



Ipdex bo Papet; ^Aar>!l^!n. 



A. Cerebrum, or Large Brain. 

B. Cerebellum, or Small Brain. 

C. Spinal Cord. 

D. Vertebrae. 
E Eyeball. 

F. Nasal Cavity. 

(t. Tongue. 

H. Larynx, or Voice Box. 

I. Trachea. 

J. Bloodvessels of Lungs. 

K. Bronchial Tubes. 

R. A. Right Auricle of Heart. 

L. A. Left Auricle of Heart. 

R, V. Right Ventricle of Heart. 

L. V. Left Ventricle of Heart. 

Copyrighted, 1 886 . 




&g, THE MASTERPIECE, [ 



^/(s;®^ 



ABOUT BOYHOOD, 



YOUTH MD t=> 



1 



fc- 



MANHOOD. 



BY J. H. KELLOGG, 3fr=3X. 



Member op the British and American Associations for the Advancement op Scieno-, The 

American Public Health Association, The American Society op Microscopists. T«a 

American Social Science Association, The Michigan State Medical Associatio- 

State Board of Health op Michigan. Editor op "Good Health," 

Author of "Thk Home Hand-Book of Domestic Hygiene and 

Rational Medicine," "Ladies' Guide," and 

Various Other "Works. 



ILLUSTRATED. 




CONDIT & NELSON, 

DES MOINES, IOWA. 

i§86. 



^Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, 

By J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

A.11 RigtLts Reserved. 




#PREFACE.# 



HE growing want of the times is for men, for real 
men, genuine men, men of sincerity, of probity, of 
^^ moral worth, — old-fashioned men, who are innocent 
of the arts of social and financial diplomacy, who 
are unskilled in intrigue and too simple-hearted to 
comprehend the mysteries of political wire-pulling. 
Serious people everywhere are earnestly asking, Who of 
the rising generation are to be the substantial men in the 
Church and in the State of the future ? Who are to be the 
pillars of society a score of years hence ? 

That the general tendency of the times is not calcu- 
lated to encourage the development of the sort of men de- 
manded for the good of the coming generation, is an un- 
pleasant fact too well recognized by observing, reflecting 
minds to require demonstration here. That such should 
be the case in the midst of our boasted civilization, in the 
most enlightened age the world has ever known, is a fact 
which has become a matter of most earnest solicitude to 
thousands. 

" Weaker and wiser " the world is growing, according 
to a common proverb, the truth of which is confirmed, in 
part at least, by common observation. The human race 
is certainly growing weaker physically. Each generation 
bequeaths to its successor the accumulated knowledge of 
preceding ages, so that there must necessarily be a cer- 
tain growth in intellectual wisdom ; but are men growing 
stronger and better morally ? 

Whole volumes of saving truth are contained in the 
ancient maxim which the wise Greeks wrote above the 

w 



VI PREFACE. 



portals of their temples dedicated to Hygeia, "Mens sana 
in corpore sano" (a sound mind in a sound body). In this 
volume the author has undertaken to point out some of the 
evils which lie at the foundation of physical and moral de- 
generacy, and which, in his opinion, are doing more at the 
present day to deteriorate the race physically, mentally, 
and morally, than all others combined. Some of the state- 
ments made will undoubtedly startle those who have been 
lulled into a " Rip Van Winkle sleep " by the alluring de- 
lusion of the cry, " Peace, peace ;" while the most hideous 
monsters of vice are waging an unceasing war upon the 
purity and morals of the race. A few of the facts pre- 
sented will undoubtedly seem incredible to many whose 
opportunities for observation have not been such as to 
give them an adequate knowledge of the extent of the 
evils with which the author has undertaken to deal ; but 
the greatest care has been taken to avoid the slightest de- 
gree of exaggeration, and, indeed, in many instances, one- 
half the real truth has not been told. 

The sole aim of this work has been to inspire the boys 
and young men of the rising generation with a higher re- 
gard for those bodies which the Almighty " created in his 
own image," and pronounced "very good ;" to encourage 
a greater love and respect for purity in thought and act ; 
to help those whose aspirations are upward, by exposing 
the snares and evil enticements by which unwary youth 
are led astray ; and thus to aid in the development of a 
higher, purer, and nobler type of manhood. 

The generous welcome which the author's previous 
works have received from the reading public, leads him to 
indulge the hope that this effort may be the means of ac- 
complishing some little for the well-being of his fellow- 
men. 

J. H. K. 

Battle Creek, Mich., \ 
Dec. 1, 1885. ( 




dojsftfsfrW 



PEEFACE v 

COLOEED PLATES 19 



JhE ^yV^TERPIECE. 



The human body, the Creator's masterpiece — Microscopic 
wonders — The beginning of life — A live sponge — Men 
and sponges — Two hundred bones — Cultivated de- 
formities — Five hundred muscles — E[ow a muscle works 
— Uses of muscles — Midriff, or diaphragm — How we 
speak, laugh, and sing — A live pump — The two hearts 
— Arteries and veins — Six quarts of blood — Some queer 
things in the blood — Eed blood corpuscles — White blood 
corpuscles — Traveling tinkers — How the blood circu- 
lates — The pulse — The portal circulation — How to take 
good care of the heart — How the heart is injured — 
Heart disease from alcohol and tobacco — Bad blood — 
Tell-tale corpuscles — Two thousand feet of lungs — How 
a frog breathes — Drinking air — Our lungs — Use of the 
lungs — Thirty feet of stomach — A live mill — The teeth 
— The tongue — The stomach — The alimentary canal — 
Gastric juice — Small intestines — Pancreatic juice — 
Pancreas — Liver — Bile — Intestinal juice— Colon, or large 
intestine — Five wonderful fluids — Action of the diges- 
tive fluids — Digestion of a mouthful of bread — Absorp- 
tion—Three and one-half pounds of liver — The gall 
bladder — The absence of bile — How the bile digests 
fats — Uses of bile — Liver work — A self-sacrificing organ 

[vii] 



vi 11 CONTEXTS. 



— Seventeen square feet of skin — Sweat glands — Use of 
the skin — Breathing by the skin — Eegulation of tem- 
perature — Sensibility — The kidneys — The ureters — The 
bladder — Work of the kidneys — Urea — Influence of 
diet upon the kidneys — Symptoms of kidney disease — 
Three pounds of brains — Twelve hundred million nerve 
cells — Uses of nerve cells — Some queer thinking — The 
medulla — The little brain — How we hear, see, taste, 
and smell — A great brain — Brain and mind — Men's and 
women's brains compared — Our eyes — Eyes of the leech 
— Our ears — Ears of the barnacle — Ears of the fish — 
Ear bones — How we hear — The drum membrane — The 
drum cavity — Ear stones — ]STose — How we smell — How 
and what we taste — Curious facts about the sense of 
taste 21-53 



Jhe ^VIy^tery of a JHew JalFE. 

A fascinating study — Blind prejudice — Anatomy of the male 
sexual organs — The testes — Seminal fluid — Scrotum — 
Yas deferens — Spermatic cord — Vesicula seminalis — 
Common seminal, or ejaculatory duct — Prostate gland 
— Urethra — Cowper's gland — The penis — Glans penis — 
Prepuce — Physiology of digestion — Curious reproduc- 
tion in low forms of life — Fecundation, impregnation, 
or fertilization — Pesting spore — Sex in flowers — The 
pollen — Ovule — Eeproduction in flowers — Eeproduction 
in animals — The spermatozoa — The ovule — Spermato- 
zoa and ova of different animals — The testes and ova- 
ries — Intermittent generation — The menses, or menstru- 
ation — The rut — Fecundation, or conception — Develop- 
ment — Human affinities in lower animals — The foetus — 
Childbirth — Plural pregnancy — Control of sex — Cause 
of sex — Ante-natal influences — An interesting historical 
case — Puberty — Changes at puberty — Hygiene of pu- 
berty — Curiosities of reproduction — A wise provision of 
nature — Interesting modes of impregnation — Eggs of 
polypi and corals — Fertilization in fishes — Eggs of the 



CONTENTS. IX 



cuttle fish — Shark's eggs — .Remarkable reproductive 
processes — The seventeen -year locust — A queer mother 
— Impregnation without sexual union — Mongrels and 
Hybrids — Hybrids seldom fertile — Leporides — The 
chabin — Monsters — Hermaphrodites — A free-marten 54-72 



Y^OfA ^OYHOOD fyp. 



Innocence personified— A sad spectacle — Boys' rights — Badly 
born — Other natural rights — Education — Proper aims 
of education — Habits — Food, health, and morals- — The 
best diet for children — Condiments unwholesome — Eat- 
ing between meals- — European peasant boy — Confiding 
in parents — To make home attractive — Special dangers 
to boys — High-headedness — Reliability and genuineness 
— Profanity — Yicious habits — Young smokers — An 
easy step to drunkenness — Worse vices — An evident 
duty of parents 73-88 



]4oW TO BE JStF^ONQ. 



Physical culture among the ancients — Decline of physical 
culture — Strong muscles win — Effects of exercise and 
inaction — Benefits to be derived from exercise — How to 
acquire a graceful carriage — How to correct bodily de- 
formities — Effect of exercise upon the internal activities 
— A good wind — Danger from a weak heart — How to 
test a heart — Advantages of manual training — Equal 
training of both sides of the body — -Muscular exercise 
for brain workers — The Moral value of exercise — Gen- 
eral rules for exercise — Some Illustrious examples — 
Ex-Premier Gladstone as a wood chopper — Dickens as a 
pedestrian — Byron as an athlete — Testimony of Mac- 
laren — Exercise encourages growth — William Cullen 
Bryant — How to make a home gymnasium — Exercise 
to develop special parts of the bod}' — The trunk and 
arms of a well-developed man — A young man with 



CONTENTS. 



drooping shoulders — The cause of spinal curvature — 
Hollow chest — Pigeon breast — Improperly developed 
chest — Eesults of physical training and expanding of 
the chest — Forms of exercise — Walking — How to walk 
— Running, leaping, and hopping — Dumb-bell exercises 
— How to use dumb-bells — Gymnastics among the 
Chinese — Anvil chorus — Indian club exercises to de- 
velop particular portions of the body — To strengthen 
the arms — The fore-arm — The inner side of the arm — 
Outer side of the arm — Shoulders — Fingers — To develop 
the muscles of the breast — To strengthen the muscles of 
the abdomen — To strengthen the groins and back — Ex- 
pand the chest — To develop the legs — Daily exercise 
for a young man 89-134 



fi "GJh/iPTER OjSf ^THICp. 



Morality — Law universal — Pain a blessing — Moral law — 
Bogus religion — Genuine religion — Religion of Socrates 
— The religion of Buddha — Religion of Mohammed — 
Christianity — Skepticism — Minister Lowell on skepti- 
cism — Skepticism not safe — Influence of habit — Ethics 
of health caring — Individual rights — Human omnibuses 
— A live picture gallery — The highest type of Chris- 
tianity — Mind and body — Millions in it. _ . _ 135-150 



jSoCI/^ iJTHICJS. 

Introductions — Introduction of a personal friend — Introduc- 
tion of a business acquaintance — Conduct upon the 
streets — Calls — Conversation — At the table — General 
rules of conduct — Special rules for boys. 151-163 



-CJettinq a ^ife. 



Belation of marriage to health — Relation of marriage to civ- 
ilization — The object of marriage — Wrong views of 



CONTENTS. xi 



marriage — Who have no right to marry ? — Boys should 
not marry — When to marry — Old men ought not to 
marry — The worthless should not marry — A wicked 
man should not marry — Epileptics should not marry — 
Persons of insane temperaments should not marry — 
Children of cranks — Should consumptives and scrofu- 
lous persons marry ? — Should a syphilitic man marry ? — 
Should a drunkard marry ? — Should an improvident per- 
son marry ? — Whom to marry — A thorough acquaint- 
ance necessary — Do not marry a flirt — Do not marry a 
woman of fashion — Seek a healthy wife — Do not be in 
a hurry — What about temperaments ? — Should cousins 
marry ? — Make yourself worth marrying 164-181 



^N JJviJ- J-fEiyTAQE. 



A good constitution — How constitutions are ruined — Weak 
stomachs and livers — Disordered nerves — Insanity — 
Depraved appetites — Libidinous blood — A way of es- 
cape—The liquor appetite ._ _ 182-196 



pOW TO ^VI^KE JalFE JK j3tJCCE££. 

What is true success? — Success alone not a proper aim — 
Have an aim — Singleness of purpose — How Napoleon 
succeeded — Concentration of purpose — Perseverance — 
Thoroughness — Faithfulness — Be practical — Learn by 
experience — Genius and luck — Promptness and energy 
— Economy — Waste of time — Waste of money — Squan- 
dering health — True merit wins — Self-respect — Genu- 
ine gentility 197-214 



j3T0M/vCH£. 

Importance of proper food — Byron on diet — Not worth eat- 
ing — "Not worth a blessing" — How much to eat — Re- 



xil CONTENTS. 



lation of climate and occupation to diet — Danger of eat- 
ing too much — Proper mastication — Evils of hasty eat- 
ing and overeating — Perils of indigestion — Eating when 
tired — An old Scotch custom — How the ancient Greeks 
and Eomans ate — The two-meal-a-day plan in France 
and Spain — A carnivorous appetite — Celebrated vegeta- 
rians 215-225 



^\ }?EW ♦pRE£CF(IPTIONP fOY{ jSlCK ]2tOMACH£. 

A sour stomach — Hot-water drinking — All-gone feeling — 
Consumption or dyspepsia, which ? — What about sup- 
per? 226-232; 



J3lUO.U2j^E££. 

Bile on the stomach — A brassy taste in the mouth — A dingy 
skin— Not bile enough — What is biliousness?— Too much 
bile — Overeating — Too much fat food — Fat-laden liv- 
ers — Too much flesh food — Cause of spring sickness — 
Condiments and biliousness — A weak stomach — Goad- 
ing the liver — Breathing and biliousness — Tea, coffee, 
and biliousness — Biliousness from the use of tobacco and 
alcohol — No wonder he was bilious — Eemedy for bil- 
iousness — Sugar-making in the liver — Diet — How to re- 
lieve biliousness — Cheating nature — Medical lawyers 
and pettifoggers — Eheumatism and biliousness — Torpid 
livers — Mineral water and biliousness 233-248' 



JhE JWO ^EyVTHJB. 



The air which we breathe in — The air — Oxygen of the air 
— Effect of heat upon the air — Density of the air — 
What the barometer tells about the air — The thermome- 
ter — Eeason for physical depression before a storm — 
Living in high altitudes — The air which we breathe out 



CONTEXTS. xin 



— Moisture of the air — An experiment — Another experi- 
ment — The Black Hole of Calcutta — How to kill an 
Indian — Dirty air — How to ventilate a home — Hot 
much fresh air is needed — How to test air 249-264 



JhE I\um ^/JVIILY. 



Members of the family — Origin of each — Intoxication — 
Poison in bitters — Jamaica ginger — Hostetters Stom- 
ach Bitters — Temperance Bitters — California Vinegar 
Bitters- — Fire-water — An alcohol omelette — A human 
pickle — The whisky breath — Alcohol an irritant — How 
alcohol stimulates — Alcohol a poison to plants — Alcohol 
a poison to animals— Drunken goats — Swine topers — 
Alcohol a poison to human beings — Alcohol an irritant 
— Alcohol a narcotic — Alcohol an anaesthetic — Alcohol 
not a food — Alcohol makes bad blood — Alcohol destroys 
the blood — Hum choking — Alcoholic degeneration — A 
drunkard's heart — A toper's pulse — A whisky flush — 
A toddy blossom — A drunkard's brain — Alcoholic apo- 
plexy — Alcoholized nerves — A drunkard's stomach — 
Stomach of a moderate drinker — Stomach of a hard 
drinker — Stomach in delirium tremens — Observations 
of Dr. Beaumont on Alexis St. Martin's stomach — Alco- 
holic insanity — Beer and Bright's disease — Drunkard's 
dropsy — Alcoholic consumption — Alcohol vs. strength 
— Alcoholized muscles — Alcohol vs. animal heat — Tes- 
timony of Dr. Parkes, Dr. Keene, Dr. King, Captain 
Kennedy, and Sir John Franklin — Alcohol a general 
disturber of the vital economy — Alcohol vs. longevity 
— Entailments of alcohol — Causes of idiocy 265-289 



IJK VyZUO Op |3AF(By\RI5M 

Tobacco-using discovered by Columbus — Origin of snuff-tak- 
ing — Origin of tobacco-chewing — Inventors of pipes and 
cigars — Tobacco a deadly poison — Nicotine — A pound 



XIV CONTENTS. 



of tobacco will kill three hundred men — Oil of tobacco 
used by the Hottentots to kill snakes — Poisoning 
through the skin — Deadly vapor — Poisoning through 
the lungs — Poisonous effects of tobacco-using — Condi- 
tion of a boy learning to smoke — Why all smokers do 
not die of tobacco poisoning — Effects on the blood — To- 
bacco predisposes to disease — Smoker's sore throat — 
Tobacco and consumption — Tobacco a cause of heart 
disease — Tobacco and dyspepsia — Tobacco a cause of 
cancer — Tobacco and paralysis — Color blindness — Nerv- 
ousness from tobacco-using — Hereditary effect of to- 
bacco-using — The devil's own — How to reform 290-308 



Organic death — Results of decomposition — Eelation of germs 
to decomposition — Germs and foul odors — Sources of 
germs — A cellar investigated — A peep into a kitchen — 
A pantry full of germs — A sitting-room inspected — 
Moldy walls — A Pandora's box — An infected parlor — A 
death trap — Unhealthful sleeping-rooms — What's un- 
der the house? — Sanitary survey of a back yard — Death 
in a well — Uses of germs — Germs and flies — Eelation of 
germs to human life — Disposal of decomposing matter 
— Disinfection — The best disinfectants — How to disin- 
fect — The dry-earth system — Experiments — Disposal of 
garbage — Keep clean 309-335 



^/h/t to ^(ea^ for J4eajlth. 

Uses of clothing — Experiment — What to wear for health — 
Linen — Cotton — Silk — Wool — Experiment — Another 
experiment — Eubber and leather — Experiment — Eela- 
tion of color to health — Experiments — Dressing for 
warmth — Clothing should be adapted to the season and 
weather — Under- clothing — Secure equal warmth — In- 



CONTEXTS. XV 



fants and aged persons need extra warmth — Clothing 
should allow unrestrained movement — Pressure about 
the waist — Corset wearing — English fops — Experiments 
— Clothing for the feet — Clothing for the neck and head 
— Change of clothing — Night clothing — Beds — Bed 
clothing — Feather beds — Poisonous colors 336-349 



]4oW TO !^ATHE. 



General rules for bathing — Sponge bath — Full bath — Sweat- 
ing pack — Yapor bath — Hot-air bath — Oil bath — Sitz 
bath — Wet girdle — The enema — Compress — Fomenta- 
tions 350-366 



jSEXUAL £l]\ r £ /J\ r D THEIR ;pON£EQUENCE£. 

Self-abuse, or masturbation — Prevalence of the vice — The 
vice in Europe — Causes of self-abuse — How the habit is 
acquired — Local disease as a cause — Predisposing causes 
— Bad diet — Excessive use of flesh food — Use of tobacco 
— City life — Obscene literature — "Boys' Papers" — Dis- 
coveries of Anthony Comstock — Signs of vice — Effects 
of self-abuse — Physical effects of self-abuse — Consump- 
tion — Epilepsy — Disease of the heart — Sexual debility 
— Sexual neurasthenia — Mental and moral effects — 
"Border liners " — Insanity — General symptoms — A vic- 
tim's rjicture of himself — The remedy — Mental purity — 
Mental occupation — A valuable hint — Good associations 
— Diet — Exercise — Sleep — Daily bathing — Care of the 
bowels — Phimosis — Eeligion — To cure the practice in 
children — Social vice — Licentiousness among the Greeks 
— Immoralities of the Middle Ages — Public morals in 
Europe — Causes of decline of purity — Newspaper filth 
— Immodest deportment — Too great familiarity of the 
sexes — Evil courting customs — Precocious sensuality — 
Carelessness of parents — Eesults of social vice — Sowing 



XVI CONTEXTS. 



wild oats — Marital excesses — A gross error — A potent 
cause of disease — A cause of nervous break-downs in 
men — Sexual function not essential to health — Conti- 
nence not harmful — Abnormal sexual appetite — How 
the passions are stimulated — A social paradox solved — 
Physiological love not sensuality — A strong doctrine — • 
The cause of domestic infelicity — Badly generated chil- 
dren — Excesses after marriage — A few words of advice 
— Abortion — Marital rights — Cheating nature — Men- 
tal vice— A mirror of the mind — Mental adulterers 367-430 



I)l£Ey\£E£ OF THE ^EXUyU, ^F^QAjsf^. 

Sexual nervous debility — Symptoms — Causes — Treatment — 
Proper exercise — Diet — Sleep — Bathing — Spermator- 
rhoea — Varieties of spermatorrhoea — Nocturnal pollu- 
tions, or wet dreams — Symptoms — Causes — Treatment 
— To control losses — Voluntary control of dreams — 
Diet — Causes — Proper care of the bowels — Bathing — 
Applications to the spine — Use of sounds — Electricity 
— Diurnal emissions — Character of the discharge — Ex- 
citing causes of diurnal emissions — The results of diur- 
nal emissions — Treatment — Spermatorrhoea, or Sperm- 
orrhagia — How sexual abuse produces spermator- 
rhoea — Symptoms — Treatment — Marriage — Diseases of 
the prostate — Acute prostatitis, or inflammation of the 
prostate — Symptoms — Treatment — Chronic inflamma- 
tion of the prostate — Enlargement of the prostate — 
Symptoms — Treatment — Irritable prostate — Treatment 
— Prostatorrhcea, or prostatic catarrh — Treatment — 
Stricture — Causes — Symptoms — Treatment — Phimosis 
— Treatment — Paraphimosis — Balanitis — Treatment- 
Herpes of the foreskin — Venereal warts — Inflammation 
of the testicle, or orchitis — Epididymis — Symptoms — 
Treatment — Hydrocele — Symptoms — Treatment — Irri- 
table and neuralgiac testicle — Atrophy, or shrinkage of 
the testicle — Varicocele — Treatment — Priapism — Treat- 



CONTENTS. xvil 



ment — Abnormalities of the testicle — Impotence — 
Treatment — Sterility — Treatment — Castration — Cir- 
cumcision 431-520 



^ENERAJ. ]4lNT£ ABOUT J4EAJ.TH. 

Care of the skin — How to make the skin healthy — Bathing 
protects against colds — Aristocratic vermin — Bathing 
a natural instinct — Care of the eyes — Wearing glasses 
— Eye Lotions — Things in the eye — Catching eye dis- 
eases — Cataract — Squint — Education of the eye — Eela- 
tion of the eye to other senses — How to care for the 
ears — Tea and coffee — Drugs — Eules for Dyspeptics, 
_ 521-539 



£0MM0JM ^\l]LMEJ\tT£. 

Chronic inflammation of the throat, or pharyngitis — En- 
larged tonsils — Nasal catarrh — Hay-fever — Moist tet- 
ter, or salt rheum — Warts — Granular sore eyelids — 
Nettle rash, or hives — Constipation of the bowels — 
Boils — Corns — Freckles — Oily skin — Dandruff — Chil- 
blains — Foul and profuse perspiration — How a tape- 
worm was captured — Piles — Bed nose — Baldness — 
Acne, or face pimples — Mouth- breathing — Sleeplessness 
— Heart-burn — Acute sore throat — Sneezing — Ivy poi- 
soning — The tobacco habit — Writer's cramp — Varicose 
veins — Nosebleed — Ear discharge — Burning feet — Ery- 
sipelas — Ringworm — Hiccough — Sunstroke and heat 
exhaustion — Bruises — Ingrowing toe-nails — Hang-nail 
— Burns and Scalds — Sprains — Muscular strains — Mi- 
graine, or nervous headache 540-585 



xvin CONTENTS. 



£hoice Prescription?. 



For sexual nervous debility — For balanitis — For herpes of 
the prepuce — For catarrh— For chronic sore throat — 
For dandruff — For sore eyes — For piles — For .Ring- 
worm 586-588 

GEKEKAL INDEX 591-596 




-•-^Ao 1 



I COLORED PLATES, | 

PLATE I. — The Muscles. 

PLATE II.— The Heart and Blood. 

PLATE III.— The Arteries and Veins. 

Plate IV.— The Lungs. 

PLATE V. — The Nerves. 

Plate VI. — The Digestive Organs. 

Plate VII. — Low Forms of Life. 

PLATE VIII. — The Reproductive Elements. 

PLATE IX. — Sex in Plants. 

PLATE X. — A Home Gymnasium. 

PLATE XL — A Well-Developed Form. 

PLATE XII. — Undeveloped Muscles, Sloping Shoulders. 

Plate XIII. — Uneven Shoulders, Spinal Curvature. 

PLATE XIV. — Hollow Chest, Stooping Shoulders. 

PLATE XV.— Chicken-Breasted Child. 

Plate XVI. — Imperfectly Developed Chest. The same 
after Training. 

PLATE XVII. — Walking and Running Exercise. 

PLATE XVIIL— Ancient and Modern Dumb-bells. 

PLATE XIX. — Dumb-bell and Indian Club Exercises. 

[xix] 



xx COLORED PLATE 8. 



PLATE XX. — Chinese Gymnast. 

PLATE XXI. — Various Forms of Exercise. 

PLATE XXII. — Various Forms of Exercise. 

Plate XXIII. — Various Forms of Exercise. 

Plate XXIV.— Effects of Alcohol on the Stomach. 

Plate XXV.— Germs. 

PLATE A. — Male Organs of Generation. 

PLATE B. — Bladder, Prostate, and Testis. 

PLATE C. — Effects of Mercury and Syphilis. 

Plate D. — Effects of Syphilis. 

PLATE E. — Various Diseases of the Sexual Organs. 




£sH- 



The Masterpiece 




8-»l-B§gS&§«* 



N the time-stained walls of an antiquated 
church, in an obscure part of an old Italian 
city, hangs a canvas, painted by an artist 
whose ashes have been smoldering in the 
grave for centuries. Every year thousands 
of men and women from all Christendom 
make a pilgrimage to this shrine of art, and, 
as the monk draws aside the costly covering 
which protects it, reverentially speak the ar- 
tist's name, and say, " That was his mas- 
terpiece." 

The artist who is thus reverenced was but a man, 
and his work, wonderful as it is, is but the shadow of a 
human form. The artist himself was a work of art as 
infinitely superior as eternity is greater than a day. 
Man, the paragon of creation, is the crowning work of 
the Divine Artist — the Creator's masterpiece. 

A gold watch, with its carved or polished case, is a 
beautiful object to look upon ; but it is only when the 
case is opened, exposing to view the delicate wheels and 
levers by which the hours and minutes are accurately 
measured off, that we begin to appreciate the wonderful 
ingenuity and skill displayed in this useful mechanism. 
So it is with the human body. Its beautiful and sym- 

[21] 



22 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

metrical exterior excites our admiration ; but it is only 
when we inspect in detail its intricate machinery, its va- 
rious tissues, organs, and apparatuses, and witness their 
marvelous processes, that we begin to appreciate the 
infinite skill and wisdom of the divine Artist who de- 
signed and executed this most marvelous of all created 
works. 

Microscopic Wonders. — The human eye, when 
aided by all the other senses, is not able to discern the 
infinite delicacy of form and structure which pervades 
the entire human form ; and it is only when that adroit 
revealer of nature's secrets, the microscope, is brought 
to bear upon each little thread of tissue in the body, 
that its infinite grace and beauty of structure and mar- 
velous delicacy of form and composition are discovered. 

A philosopher has said, " The proper study of man- 
kind is man." For ages, many of the noblest men have 
devoted their lives to the study of the "human form 
divine," bringing to their aid every appliance afforded 
by the whole range of art and science, and applying 
themselves with untiring energy and patience to the 
effort of compelling nature to divulge at least a few of 
the secrets enshrouded in the mystery of human life. 
Every fibre of the human body has been subjected to 
the most searching scrutiny of microscopes so powerful 
as to make the finest grain of sand equal in apparent 
size to an enormous rock. 

Each structure and organ has been named and care- 
fully described ; and to such a degree has knowledge on 
this point accumulated, it has become the work of a life- 
time to become fully acquainted with the minute details 
of the body and its work. In this brief chapter, we can 



A LIVE SPONGE. 23 



only glance at a few of the leading characteristics of the 
body and the curious processes by which human life and 
activity are sustained. 

The Beginnings of Life. — One warm, sunny after- 
noon, the writer, having run away from the stern rigors of 
a Northern winter, was coasting in a little yacht among 
the mangrove covered isles of Florida Keys. The helms- 
man had run our little ship into a sheltered bay, where 
scarcely a breath stirred the glistening waters. While 
slowly floating with the tide, we seized the opportunity 
to study life beneath the ocean wave. 

One of our two sturdy seamen brings out a water 
telescope, by the aid of which, leaning over the vessel's 
side, we are able to look down through the crystal 
waters twenty, fifty, even a hundred feet, and see with 
wonderful distinctness the curious and luxuriant vegeta- 
ble growths and strange and uncouth animal forms which 
people, in tropical climes, the vast bottom of the briny 
deep. There are broad fields of branching, somber- 
colored sea-weeds, with great sea crabs running out and 
in among them; all sorts of bivalves and univalves, half 
imbedded in the mud; lovely corals and madrepores, at- 
tached to fragments of rocks, or clinging to some marine 
plant ; all kinds of sponges — red, green, yellow, black ; 
queer little star-fish, slowly crawling along over the 
rocks; and wonderful jelly-fish, floating with the tide. 

A Live Sponge. — We thrust down a long pole, with 
a hook in the end, and seize one of those great yellow 
sponges. Hauling it up into the boat, we examine the 
queer, vegetable-like animal. It seems to consist of a 
horny mesh-work covered with slime. When we get 
home, if we put a drop of this slime under a microscope, 



24 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

we shall find it to be alive. This, in fact, is the real 
sponge, to which the part familiar to us as the 
sponge, acts simply as a mechanical support, or skele- 
ton. This living slime represents life in one of its low- 
est forms. Its substance is homogeneous. It really has 
no structure, yet it feeds, breathes, feels, and possesses, 
in a primitive form, most of the properties of living 
things in a higher stage of development. 

Men and Sponges. — Strange as it may appear, there 
is an affinity between the sponge, at the lower end 
of the scale of life, and man, who stands at the top. 
If we follow the life history of a human being back 
to the earliest moment of existence, we find only 
a little speck of living jelly, substantially like the 
live portion of a sponge. This living bit of jelly has 
no nerves, yet it feels ; has no lungs, yet it breathes ; 
no stomach, yet it digests; is without hands, jet it 
works. 

The sponge was once a mere little drop of slime, 
which grew, and gathered in material from the sur- 
rounding waters, and from this material it built for 
itself a skeleton over which to extend, and upon which 
to live. So the human jelly-drop works and grows and 
develops and builds cells, fibres, structures, and organs, 
till at last the human body, with all its wonderful de- 
tails, is perfected. 

Two Hundred Bones. — The body, like the house in 
which we live, requires a frame-work to give to it firm- 
ness and symmetry. This frame-work must be not only 
firm, but flexible, in order to enable us to use our bodies 
easily in the great variety of movements required of 
them. To meet this requirement, the skeleton is 



CULTIVATED DEFORMITIES. 25 

possessed of a large number of separate bones, two hun- 
dred in all, which are held together by bands, or liga- 
ments, forming joints. In early infancy the bones are 
soft and flexible ; but in adult life they become hard 
and rigid. In old age their composition is changed in 
such a way that they become brittle, and are easily 
broken. 

The bones are not entirely matured until some years 
after the body ceases to grow in hight, or about the 
age of twenty to twenty-five. During the years of de- 
velopment, the soft bones may be easily bent out of 
shape by bad positions in sleeping or sitting, or by im- 
proper clothing. It is in this way that curvatures of 
the spine, flat chests, round shoulders, narrow waists, 
and deformities of the feet are produced. 

Cultivated Deformities. — The most conspicuous ex- 
amples of deformities produced by artificial means are 
the feet of fashionable Chinese women, which are 
converted into queer stumps by the operation of ban- 
daging, which doubles the toes completely under the 
feet ; the head of the flat-head Indian of North Amer- 
ica, which is flattened by the compression of a board 
upon the forehead, or elongated into the shape of a cone 
by the application of firm bandages; and the wasp- 
like waist of the fashionable civilized woman, whose 
perverted ideas of beauty lead her to the vain and 
foolish attempt to improve the masterpiece of the 
great Artist by distorting it into a form which, though 
symmetry in an insect, is deformity in a human being. 

This flexibility of the bony frame-work of the body 
in early life, clearly indicates the importance of training 
the body to a correct and symmetrical development. 



26 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

This point will receive particular emphasis in another 
chapter. 

Five Hundred Muscles. — The beefsteak or mutton- 
chop which you had for breakfast was a portion of the 
muscle of an ox or sheep. The lean meat of all ani- 
mals is composed of muscular tissue, which also makes 
up the great bulk of the fleshy portion of our own 
bodies. A piece of lean meat that has been salted, after 
being boiled may be separated into bundles, each one of 
which may be divided into a large number of delicate 
threads. If one of these is placed under a microscope, 
it may be divided into fibres almost too small to be seen 
with the naked eye. 

How a Muscle Works. — Each one of these minute 
fibres, several hundred of which would be required to 
cover an inch in space, if laid side by side, possesses the 
power to contract and then to return again to its natural 
length. By the combined action of the thousands of 
these little living threads which constitute each muscle, 
these organs are enabled to do the work assigned them 
in the body, which is that of producing motion by con- 
traction. 

The total number of muscles in the body is about 
two hundred and fifty pair, which, with very few excep- 
tions, are arranged symmetrically, each side of the body 
being provided with muscles exactly like those of the 
opposite side. Some of the most important muscles are 
shown in Plate I. 

Uses of Muscles. — By means of the muscles of the 
legs, acting upon the bones of the legs, we are enabled 
to walk, run, leap, etc. The muscles of the arms and 
hands enable us to work, write, play upon musical 




PLATE I.— The Muscles. 



FIVE HUNDRED MUSCLES. 27 

instruments, and engage in all sorts of manual pursuits. 
The muscles of the trunk sustain the body erect, and 
form the walls of cavities which contain the internal 
organs. Those of the chest are also useful in breathing, 
in which they act together with a remarkable muscle 
within the body called the midriff, or diaphragm. By 
delicate little muscles, the eye is moved in various 
directions. Still more delicate muscles adjust the ear 
to various sounds. It is by the action of the muscles, 
also, that the face is able to assume such a vast variety 
of expressions. Anger, scorn, jealousy, grief, and joy 
are all pictured upon the face by varying movements of 
the delicate little muscles which lie just underneath the 
skin. 

Every movement of the body is the result of muscu- 
lar action. Without muscles, a man would be as help- 
less as a plant or a tree, which spends its whole life just 
where its seed happened to take root in the soil. The 
heart, which by its incessant beating supplies each part 
of the body with life-giving blood, is simply a muscle, 
and even the blood-vessels, which convey the blood to 
the various portions of the body, are scarcely more than 
muscular tubes. It is by means of muscles, acting upon 
other organs, that we are able to speak, laugh, and sing, 
as well as move about. 

The muscles also add to the beauty of the body, 
rounding out the form, covering the ugly protuberances 
of the bones, and giving to the human form that grace 
and symmetry which places it so far above all other 
living forms in point of beauty. How the muscles may 
be developed, and how they become diseased when not 
properly exercised, we shall study in a future chapter. 



28 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

A Live Pump. — Place your hand upon the left side 
of the chest, just above the lower border of the ribs. 
You feel something which goes thump, thump, thump. 
Get a friend to let you place your ear upon his chest at 
the same spot. You hear something saying lub-tup', lub- 
tup'. There is a live pump in there, the heart, which 
keeps working away all your life, from infancy to old age, 
making sixty to seventy strokes every minute, never 
stopping to rest even for five seconds, though sometimes 
it becomes tired and flags a little, and at other times 
gets excited and runs away at a frightful rate, sometimes 
so fast one can scarcely count it. 

The heart, as we have already learned, is a hollow 
muscle. A man has more heart than a woman. His 
heart weighs about ten ounces, while a woman's heart 
weighs but eight. Roughly estimated, the heart may 
be said to be as large as the fist. A man with a big 
fist has a large heart to furnish the brawny arm with an 
abundance of blood. The heart of a whale is as large 
as a wash-tub, while that of some small creatures is 
microscopic in size. (See Plate II., Fig. 1.) 

The Two Hearts. — The heart has a partition through 
the middle, the longest way, which divides it into halves, 
each of which is again separated into two chambers. 
Each side of the heart may be considered as a distinct 
heart. In some lower animals, as the dugong, the two 
sides are connected only by a band of tissue. Some in- 
sects have three or four hearts. The cavities of the 
heart are connected with every part of the body by 
means of a set of tubes, which, at the heart, are as 
large as the thumb, but by subdivision become so mi- 
nute in the tissues as to be invisible to the naked eye. 




PLATE II —The Heart and Blood. 



SIX QUARTS OF BLOOD. 29 

Some of these are so small that more than a hundred 
would be required to equal an ordinary pin in size. 

Arteries and Veins. — There are two sets of these 
tubes, one, called arteries, communicating with the lower 
chambers of the heart, the other, the veins, communi- 
cating with the upper chambers of the heart. These 
two sets of tubes run side by side through the various 
parts of the body, finally joining at the small ends 
through very small tubes, the capillaries. Thus they 
become, virtually, a single set of tubes, which are large 
at each end and small in the middle. (Plate III.) 

The lower chambers of the heart pump the blood 
out into the various parts of the body through the ar- 
teries ; while the upper chambers receive it back through 
the veins. The blood which leaves the left side of the 
heart, returns through the veins to the right side of the 
heart ; while the blood which leaves the right side of 
the heart, after passing through the lungs, returns to 
the upper chamber of the left side. By means of open- 
ings guarded by valves, the blood is enabled to pass 
from the upper to the lower chamber on each side of the 
heart, but cannot pass from one side to the other, ex- 
cept by going the roundabout road of the arteries, capil- 
laries, and veins. 

Six Quarts of Blood. — The arteries and veins of a 
body of average size contain about twelve pounds, or 
six quarts, of blood. If you wish to know something 
about this wonderful fluid, you must thrust a pin into 
the end of your finger, squeeze out a tiny drop, spread 
it upon a slip of glass, and put it under a microscope. 
Looking at it through the instrument, you will see that 
it is no longer red, but of a light amber color, and on 



30 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

looking closely you will see that it is made up of a clear 
fluid in which are floating countless numbers of little round 
bodies, called blood corpuscles. (Plate II., Figs. 2 and 3.) 

Some Queer Things in the Blood. — By far the 
larger number of the blood corpuscles are flat, or disk- 
shaped bodies, thinner in the middle than at the edge. 
They are so small that thirty-five hundred of them ar- 
ranged in a row would extend only an inch. The sep- 
arate corpuscles are yellow or amber colored ; but when 
crowded together in great numbers, as they are found in 
the blood, the mass appears red, from which fact they 
are called red blood corpuscles. By looking very sharp, 
if the microscope is a good one, you will see here and 
there a corpuscle somewhat larger than the rest, and of 
a white or grayish color. This is called a white blood 
corpuscle. One of these is found to every three or four 
hundred of the red. 

The blood corpuscles are not inert bodies, which float 
in the blood current, but are living creatures. Each one 
leads as independent and individual a life as the fishes 
that swim in the water, or the birds which fly in the air. 
The red corpuscles are simply white corpuscles grown 
old. The life of a corpuscle is supposed to be about six 
weeks. Several thousand die every second of our lives, 
their dead bodies being destroyed and removed from the 
blood by organs appointed for the purpose. 

Traveling Tinkers. — Both kinds of corpuscles per- 
form very important offices in the body. The white cor- 
puscles travel from point to point in the body, repairing 
diseased or injured parts. They are like the traveling 
tinkers, who go about looking for umbrellas and tin pans 
to mend. The red blood corpuscles are devoted to the 




PLATE III.— The Arteries and Veins. 



HOW TUB BLOOD CIBCULATES. 31 

business of carrying oxygen, which they find in the 
lungs, and transmit to every part of the body. Each 
corpuscle has the ability to carry a load of oxygen much 
larger than itself. It is only while the corpuscles are 
loaded with oxygen that the blood is red. It becomes 
a dark purple color after the oxygen has been removed 
It is for this reason that the blood is red in the arteries 
and dark purple in the veins. 

The colorless portion of the blood, called plasma, con- 
tains the various substances out of which the muscles, 
bones, and other tissues are formed. These substances 
are derived from the food which we eat and digest. 
This portion of the blood also contains various waste 
substances, which result from the wear and tear of the 
body, and are being carried to the several organs set 
apart for the business of removing them, and thus keep- 
ing the vital fluid pure. 

How the Blood Circulates. — The business of the 
heart is to circulate the blood, which it does so rapidly 
that a quantity of blood equal to the whole amount in 
the body passes through the organ every half minute. 
The heart of a vigorous man pumps not less than three 
hundred barrels of blood daily, in doing which it exer- 
cises as much energy as would be required to lift one 
thousand stones weighing one hundred pounds each from 
the ground to the shoulder. 

At each heart beat, a wave of blood starts from the 
heart, and travels to the most remote ends of the arter- 
ies. Where the arteries come near the surface, this wave 
can be felt, and is called the pulse. The pulse rate is 
usually about seventy beats per minute. It is some- 
what more rapid in young children, and is increased by 
exercise. 



32 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

The blood starts out from the lower chamber of the 
left side of the heart, from which it is propelled through 
the arteries to the various parts of the body. Thence 
it is gathered up by the veins, and carried to the upper 
chamber on the right side of the heart. From this it 
passes to the lower chamber of the same side, whence it is 
forced through a large artery to the two lungs, through 
which it passes for purification. It is then carried by 
veins to the upper chamber of the left side of the heart, 
whence it passes to the lower chamber of the same side, 
from which it is again distributed to the various parts of 
the body. The blood thus makes two circuits before it 
gets back to its starting point, one from the lower left 
chamber of the heart to the upper right chamber, another 
from the lower right chamber to the upper left chamber. 

A portion of the blood goes through two sets of 
veins before getting back to the heart. The blood from 
the stomach, spleen, and other abdominal organs is 
gathered up in a large vein, which distributes it through 
the liver by means of a second set of veins and capillaries. 
After passing through the liver, which produces some 
remarkable changes in it, it is carried by another vein 
to the large vein which gathers blood from the whole 
lower part of the body, and empties it into the right side 
of the heart. This is called the portal circulation. 

How to Take Care of the Heart. — A vigorous heart 
is essential to a healthy and a long life. A man with a 
weak heart is as poorly fitted for the voyage of life as a 
ship would be to cross the Atlantic with a small or inef- 
ficient engine. 

Every organ in the body depends upon the heart for 
its supply of blood, without which it cannot do its work. 



BAD BLOOD. 33 



Without a sufficient supply of blood, the bones deterio- 
rate, the muscles become weak, and every organ suffers. 

Proper exercise strengthens the heart. If you count 
the pulse while lying down, you will find it to be about 
sixty. On sitting up, the beats increase to sixty-six or 
eight. On standing up, the pulse rate rises to seventy- 
four or five. On taking active exercise, as in running 
or jumping, the pulse may be quickened to one hundred 
beats per minute or even more. The heart is a muscle, 
and proper exercise, by thus increasing its activity, may 
increase its vigor. Exercise, by increasing the activity 
of the heart, also secures a more rapid distribution of 
the blood, and thus quickens all the vital processes of the 
body. 

Too violent exercise may injure the heart by over- 
taxing it, and may even cause rupture of one of the 
delicate ligaments by which its valves are controlled. 

The effects of tobacco, alcohol, and all kinds of stim- 
ulants are particularly serious upon the heart, weakening 
it, at first temporarily and afterward permanently, by 
causing degeneration of its tissue into fat. A great 
share of the deaths from so-called heart disease may fairly 
be charged to alcohol and tobacco. 

Bad Blood. — The blood may be poor in quality from 
containing impurities gathered from the tissues and not 
removed with sufficient sapidity, or injurious substances 
which have been taken in along with the food, or from 
indulgence in stimulants or narcotics. It may be impov- 
erished by having an insufficient supply of the elements 
required to nourish the tissues. To keep the blood pure 
and of good quality, one must be careful to keep in good 

active operation the skin, lungs, liver, kidneys, and 
3 



34 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

bowels, — channels through which its impurities are re- 
moved, — and must carefully avoid taking into the system 
substances which cannot be used, and which must be 
removed. Of this class, alcohol, tobacco, and the various 
stimulating condiments, such as mustard, pepper, pepper- 
sauce, etc., are among those most commonly used. 

An examination of the blood after a sleepless night, 
or when an insufficiency of food has been taken, shows 
a very great decrease in the red blood corpuscles, which 
sufficiently emphasizes the necessity for an abundance 
of sleep and nutritious food. An eminent New York 
physician claims to be able to tell by examination of the 
blood whether a person has slept well the previous 
night, or whether he has been indulging in excesses of 
any sort. 

If the blood is kept pure and well supplied with the 
elements necessary to build up the body, the organs of 
the body will be pretty certain to be maintained in 
health. 

Two Thousand Feet of Lungs. — Did you ever see 
a frog drink ? — Very likely not. Let us go in search of 
some point where the croakers abound. Here we are, 
and there is a big fellow sitting on the bank. Now he 
goes, splash ! into the water, and away down out of 
sight in the mud. Never mind, we will sit down and 
rest quietly ; pretty soon we shall see him coming up to 
the surface again to get a drink. There he comes now. 
As he gets almost to the surface of the water, he lets 
out of his mouth three or four big bubbles of air. He 
comes slowly to the top, and protrudes above the water 
the mere tip of his nose, in which we shall see, by 
looking closely, two little holes scarcely larger than a pin. 




PLATE IV —The Lungs. 



OUR LUNGS. 35 



Drinking Air. — Now notice his broad throat. We 
will see that it moves up and down as though he were 
drinking. In fact, he is drinking, not water, but air. 
The frog lives in such damp places, he probably never gets 
dry, and so does not have to drink water, but air he 
must drink, or he dies. 

If some cruel fellow should catch that frog and cut 
off his hind legs to eat, like a Frenchman, you might 
dissect his body, and in doing so you would find inside 
of it two pretty good sized air-bags, connected with the 
frog's mouth by a little tube. Before the frog goes 
under water, he swallows air sufficient to fill these bags, 
then, after being under water a while, he comes up to 
exchange it for a fresh supply. 

Our Lungs. — We have in our bodies air-bags, called 
lungs, similar to those of the frog, only much more 
complicated in structure. (Plate IV., Figs. 1 and 2.) 
A frog is obliged to swallow air because he has 
no ribs ; but we are enabled, by the arrangement of 
the ribs forming the chest, to expand the lungs, and thus 
suck in the air- through the mouth or nose. A frog 
only needs to exchange the air in its lungs once in ten or 
fifteen minutes, and may under some circumstances go 
without breathing for a much longer time. But our lungs 
require that the air which they contain should be 
changed eighteen or twenty times a minute when we are 
quiet, and twice as fast when we run or engage in any 
violent exercise. 

The use of the lungs is to remove certain impurities 
from the blood. To facilitate this wosrk, they are lined 
with a delicate membrane which, if spread out, would 
cover a surface of more than two thousand square feet, 



36 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

or about eighty square rods. Underneath this mem- 
brane, an amount of blood equal to the entire quantity 
contained in the body, passes every minute for purifica- 
tion, giving off certain poisonous elements, and taking 
up the life-giving oxygen, which it carries to all the tis- 
sues, thus giving them life and activity. We shall learn 
more about the work of the lungs in a future chapter. 

Thirty Feet of Stomach. — A tiny creature that 
lives in the warm waters of the tropics, has within its 
body a little sac, which serves the triple purpose of 
heart, lungs, and stomach. In many of the lower or- 
ders of animal life, the heart and stomach are united ; 
but in man the three processes of blood circulation, air- 
breathing, and food-digestion, are carried on by three 
distinct organs. As commonly used, the term stomach 
includes all the organs employed in digesting food, of 
which the stomach proper is only one, and by no means 
the most important. 

The digestive apparatus consists of a very crooked 
tube some thirty feet in length, which extends from the 
lips to the other extremity of the trunk. Along this 
tube are ranged various organs which have more or less 
to do with the process of digestion. 

A Live Mill. — At the upper end of this tube are 
placed the teeth, which, with the jaws, constitute a 
mill, where the food is ground so as to enable the suc- 
ceeding organs to act upon it with ease. Some animals, 
which are not supplied with teeth in their mouths, have 
very excellent teeth in their stomachs, by which the 
food is masticated in a most thorough manner. When 
disposed to eat too fast, we should remember that our 
stomachs have no teeth ; and, hence, if the food is ever 
chewed at all, it must be done before it is swallowed. 





The Digestive Organs, a. (Esophagus ; 6. Stomach ; c. Cardiac Orifice ; d. 
Pylorus; e. Small Intestine; /. Bile Duct; g. Pancreatic Duct; h. Ascending 
Colon ; i. Transverse Colon ; j. Descending Colon ; k. Rectum. 



PLATE VI.— The Digestive Organs. 



FIVE WONDERFUL FLUID 8. S7 

The tongue aids in the grinding process, by keeping 
the food between the teeth, and moving it from one side 
to the other. 

Three pair of glands, arranged on either side of the 
mouth, pour into it a clear liquid, the saliva, which 
is mixed with the food to soften and otherwise change 
it. A narrow tube leads from the back of the mouth to 
the stomach proper, situated just below the lower end 
of the breast bone. 

The stomach is simply a dilated portion of the digest- 
ive tube, or as it is sometimes called, the alimentary 
canal. It holds about three pints. In its walls are curi- 
ous little pockets, in which is formed the gastric juice. 
The lower end of the stomach joins the small intestines, 
which are folded up in the abdominal cavity, and meas- 
ure about twenty-five feet. 

A few inches below the stomach, a small opening is 
found in the small intestines, through which enter two 
very important liquids, the pancreatic juice and the bile. 
The first is formed by the pancreas, a hammer-shaped 
gland which lies just back of the stomach ; the latter, by 
the liver, which lies at the right side of the stomach, 
partially overlapping it. 

All along the small intestine are scattered minute 
little glands buried in the mucous membrane, which 
make another fluid, called the intestinal juice. At the 
lower right-hand corner of the abdominal cavity, the 
small intestine widens out into the colon, or large intestine, 
which is about five feet in length, and completes the di- 
gestive apparatus. 

Five Wonderful Fluids. — As we have already noted, 
there are several fluids concerned in the process of di- 



88 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

gestion, — the saliva, the gastric juice, the bile, the pan- 
creatic juice, and the intestinal juice. These are all used 
to dissolve the food so it can be absorbed by, or taken 
into, the blood. Each fluid has its particular work to do 
in transforming some portion of the food into a substance 
different from what it was, and preparing it to be re- 
ceived into the blood and converted into tissue. Thus, 
the saliva acts upon the starch of the food, changing it 
to sugar. The bile digests fat, and aids in the absorp- 
tion of other portions of the food after it is digested. 
The pancreatic juice digests starch, albumen, and fats, 
the three most important elements of food. The intes- 
tinal juice digests each of the kinds of food elements 
mentioned above, and also cane sugar. It is impor- 
tant to notice that cane sugar is digested only by the in- 
testinal juice, which acts, not throughout the whole ali- 
mentary canal, but only in the intestinal portion of it. 

Digestion of a Mouthful of Bread. — If we could 
see a morsel of bread undergoing digestion, we should 
notice, first, that while it is being chewed, the saliva 
converts a small portion of the starch into sugar. After 
it is swallowed, the gastric juice begins its work, and 
digests the albuminous portion of the bread, known as 
gluten. Just after it passes out of the stomach into the 
intestine, the liver and gall bladder contract, and pour 
out a quantity of bile, which searches out any little por- 
tion of oil the bread may contain, or the butter which may 
have been eaten with it, and converts this fatty matter 
into a creamy substance, which is readily absorbed and 
distributed throughout the body. The pancreatic juice 
next finds the digesting morsel, and completes the work 
begun by the saliva, the gastric juice, and the bile, do- 



THE LIVER AND THE BILE. 39 

ing the work of these three fluids much more thoroughly 
and efficiently than they are capable of doing it them- 
selves. The intestinal juice acts upon any little por- 
tion of cane sugar which may have been taken with 
the food, and gives the finishing touches to the work 
which has been begun by the preceding digestive fluids. 

Thus the mouthful of bread is completely digested. 
It is next absorbed by millions of hungry little mouths, 
which are ready to suck up the digested food into the 
blood-vessels, by which it is carried, first to the liver, 
and thence to the heart, from which it is distributed to 
the various parts of the body. 

Three and One-Half Pounds of Liver. — Neatly 
tucked away under the lower ribs of the right side, is 
one of the most wonderful organs of the whole body, 
the liver. If you should put a little bit of its chocolate- 
colored tissue under a microscope, you would find it 
made up of thousands of little round cells, each of which 
is a busy little worker, devoted to the trade of bile-mak- 
ing. The whole structure of the liver is made up of 
these cells, together with the vessels which convey 
blood through it, and the delicate system of sewers 
which collect the bile, where it is formed by the blood- 
making cells, and convey it into a large sac placed 
on its under surface, and called the gall Madder. A tube 
leads from the liver and gall bladder to the small intes- 
tine, into which it opens a few inches below the stom- 
ach. The weight of the entire organ is about three and 
one-half pounds, being the largest of all the glands in 
the body. 

The Business of Bile. — The bile is one of the most 
useful, and certainly the most remarkable of all the 



40 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

fluids of the body. It is a golden yellow color in hu- 
man beings and dogs. The bile, or gall, of an ox is 
green ; and in certain diseases persons vomit bile of a 
green color, which has led to the supposition that hu- 
man bile is green also. This is not correct, the green 
color of vomited bile being due to changes which take 
place in the stomach, where it comes in contact with the 
gastric juice. The bile has more uses than any other 
fluid in the body. 

1. As we have learned, it aids digestion, helping to 
change the fats of our food into a creamy substance, 
called an emulsion, which can be easily absorbed. 

2. The bile aids in all of the digestive processes 
which take place in the small intestine, by destroying 
the activity of the gastric juice, which is strongly acid, 
and, except for the neutralizing influence of the bile 
upon it, would prevent the action of the pancreatic and 
intestinal fluids. Bile also excites the intestines to con- 
traction, by which the digesting food is moved along, 
and in some mysterious manner helps the mucous mem- 
brane to absorb the food after it has been digested. 

3. It consists largely of waste substances which 
have been gathered from various parts of the body. 
When the liver does not do its work properly, these foul 
matters accumulate, and the person " feels blue." 

Liver Work. — But the liver does something more 
than make bile. As before stated, most of the blood 
which passes through the abdominal organs — the stom- 
ach, intestines, pancreas, and spleen— is gathered into 
one large vein, which carries it to the liver, through 
which it is distributed. The object of this arrangement 
is to enable the liver to complete the process of digest- 



THE LIVER AND THE BILE. 41 

ing such elements of food as have been absorbed before 
the work was finished, and especially to remove from 
the blood deleterious substances which have been ab- 
sorbed with the food. 

One of the most important offices of the liver is to 
gather out of the blood and store up in itself, in the 
form of a kind of animal starch, the large amount of 
sugar which is sometimes eaten with our food, and is al- 
ways formed in the process of digestion when starchy 
foods are eaten. If these were allowed to enter the 
general circulation at once, great mischief would be done 
to many organs of the body ; and it is to prevent this 
that the liver separates the greater portion of it, and 
doles it out to the blood in small doses, in the intervals 
between our meals. It is readily apparent that if a per- 
son habitually eats more sugar than it is possible for the 
liver thus to take care of, great harm may be done to 
the liver, as it would be overtaxed in trying to do its 
duty to the entire body. 

A Self- Sacrificing Organ. — The liver is a most self- 
sacrificing organ, not hesitating to remove from the blood 
poisonous substances, even retaining them in itself, in- 
stead of allowing them to circulate in the rest of the 
body. Hence it is that when a person dies in a drunken 
fit, the liver is found to contain more alcohol than any 
other part of the body. The same is true of mercury, 
arsenic, and other metallic poisons, in cases in which 
death has resulted from their use. Hence, also, follows 
the great mischief to the fiver from the use of mustard, 
pepper, pepper-sauce, and all hot and irritating condi- 
ments. Notwithstanding the generous behavior of the 
liver, it is blamed for a vast number of human ailments 



42 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

for which it is not responsible. Take good care of your 
liver, and it will never tire of taking excellent care of 
you. 

Seventeen Square Feet of Shin. — The anatomists tell 
us that if the entire skin of the body be removed and 
spread out, it will cover an area of seventeen and one- 
half square feet, — considerable more territory than one 
would be likely to estimate. 

Viewed by the unaided eye, this covering of the body 
is not particularly interesting. Viewed with the micro- 
scope, the skin is found to be a very complicated and 
wonderful structure. Its outer portion is composed of 
several layers of little flat scales, which overlap one 
another, and form a sort of horny protection for the more 
delicate parts beneath. Its lower portion contains the 
elements which constitute the true skin, and these con- 
sist, first, of a net-work of elastic fibres, which give to the 
skin its great distensibility. As the body develops, the 
skin is stretched to accommodate itself to the growing 
form. The outer skin contains — besides this elastic net- 
work, and dispersed among its meshes — various nerves, 
which give to it sensibility to touch, and the power of 
discerning differences in temperature, and, most impor- 
tant of all, great numbers of little tubes, each a small 
fraction of an inch in length. The lower portion of each 
of these tubes is coiled up deep down in the skin, while 
the upper part passes obliquely to the surface. These 
are sweat glands, of which, taken altogether, there are 
several million in the body. 

The objects of the skin are — 

1. Protection. It is a good non-conductor of heat, 
and so protects the sensitive tissues beneath from ordi- 



USES OF THE SKIN. 43 

nary changes of temperature, and by its toughness pro- 
tects them from harm which would otherwise result from 
contact with objects. 

2. Respiration. The skin, like the lungs, is a 
breathing organ. A frog can breathe with its skin so 
actively that one has been known to live for some days 
after its lungs had been removed. The human skin is 
less active as a breathing organ than that of the frog; 
but its action in this respect is quite too important to be 
safely ignored. It is through the interference with this 
breathing process, that neglect of cleanliness of the skin 
results in harmful effects. To allow the skin to become 
covered with impurities is just as much a choking process 
as constriction of the neck or compression of the waist. 

3. Excretion. The skin is an organ of excretion, 
carrying away out of the body, through the sweat, a 
large amount of impurities. This is evidenced by the 
fact that persons who eat large quantities of salt observe 
that the perspiration has a very saline taste. 

4. Temperature. The skin performs a very important 
office in regulating the bodily temperature. The tem- 
perature of the interior of the body is always about one 
hundred degrees, although the temperature surrounding 
us may vary from seven degrees below, to three hundred 
degrees above. It is through the action of the sweat 
glands and the evaporation of moisture from the skin 
that the body is enabled to endure the high degrees 
of temperature to which it may be subjected, for short 
periods at least, without injury. 

5. Sensibility. The skin is an organ of sense, giving 
us information concerning the form and consistence of 
objects, their temperature and also the degree of press- 



44 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

ure which they exert. Sensibility to pain also serves 
as a warning to protect other organs of the body from 
injury. 

The Kidneys. — Imbedded in the tissues of the body, 
at the back of the abdominal cavity and a little below 
the stomach, are placed two of the most important organs 
of the body, the kidneys. These important organs, 
though very unlike the skin in appearance, are in some 
respects closely related to it. 

The kidney is chiefly made up of little round cells, from 
each of which runs a delicate tube. The tubes run from 
the outside of the organ inward, joining together to form 
larger tubes as they approach the center, where they 
communicate with quite a large cavity, from which a 
large tube, called the ureter, leads to the bladder. The 
business of the cells and tubes is to separate from the 
blood a fluid containing the various poisonous substances 
which constitute the urine. 

The bladder is a reservoir for the urine, which at 
proper intervals is discharged through the urethra. 

Work of the Kidneys. — The kidneys are chiefly 
serviceable to the body by the removal of the poison- 
ous substance known as urea, of which they separate 
from the blood nearly one ounce every twenty-four 
hours ; and by the regulation of the degree of fluidity of 
the blood. If we drink a large amount of water, the 
amount of urine is increased, as the water dilutes the 
blood beyond its normal condition, and the amount of 
urine is very largely increased, sometimes within a few 
minutes after the water has been taken. 

The amount of urea contained in the urine depends 
largely upon the individual's diet, and his habits as 



THREE POUNDS OF BRAINS. 45 

regards exercise, etc. The urine of a person who eats 
largely of meat, has an excessive quantity of urea, which 
is due to the fact that a considerable portion of the meat 
eaten is never used as food, not being assimilated by the 
tissues, but is at once converted into this poisonous 
substance, so that it may be removed from the body as 
quickly as possible. 

A white, pink, or brick-dust sediment appearing in 
the urine is usually evidence of the presence of an 
excessive quantity of urea, or allied substances, and 
suggests that the person is eating too much meat, or is 
not digesting well the albuminous elements of his food. 
The adoption of a diet of fruits, grains, and milk, and 
the drinking of hot water an hour before each meal and 
half an hour before retiring at night, will usually cause 
this symptom to disappear. 

When the urine is very foul smelling or irritating, a 
physician should be consulted concerning the matter, at 
least if the difficulty is not made to disappear quite 
promptly by adopting the use of hot water, as suggested 
in the preceding paragraph. 

Three Pounds of Brains. — The brain of an average 
man weighs about three pounds. A woman's brain, like 
her body, weighs a little less. If we examine a little 
speck of brain substance under the microscope, we find 
it to be largely composed of curious living cells, some of 
which look very much like a tad-pole with a long tail ; 
others like a spider with legs projecting on all sides. 
Each of these little cells, half a thousand of which would 
be required to make a row an inch long, is a living 
creature, and has its particular work to do. If we exam- 
ine with sufficient care, we shall find that the tails, or fin^ 



46 MAff* THE MASTERPIECE. 

gers, possessed by the little creature while in its natural 
position in the brain, before it has been torn from its sur- 
roundings, are immensely long, running to all parts of 
the body. Some of these fingers are so small that a 
hundred million of them would be required to make a 
bundle as thick as your thumb. Thousands of these 
fibres gathered together form the nerves and the greater 
portion of the spinal cord, by means of which the brain 
is connected with all parts of the body. 

When we thrust a pin into the end of the finger, it 
gives us pain because there are some little cells in the 
brain which send out long, hair-like fibres which end in 
the skin covering the part where the pin is applied. 
The cells in the brain recognize the pain, and refer to 
the finger. These curious little organisms are called 
nerve cells. 

Twelve Hundred Million Nerve Cells. — There are 
supposed to be more than twelve hundred million of 
these cells in the brain and spinal cord. These won- 
derful cells control the whole body. All the other 
organs of the body may be considered as simply 
servants to the brain. The little cells send out their 
long fingers to the muscles, glands, lungs, heart, stomach, 
liver, and all the other organs, and through them 
send impulses to these various organs, by which they 
are made to act. Thus, when we wish to move the 
hand, the cells in the brain which communicate with 
the muscles of the arm, send down an order to the 
muscles to contract, and do our bidding. The heart 
beats, the lungs breathe, the liver makes bile, — all in 
obedience to the commands received from the nerve cells 
which preside over it. The nerve cells are divided into 
classes, each of which has its particular work to do. 




PLATE V — The Nerves. 



THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 4? 

Some Queer Thinking. — The chief business of nerve 
cells is to think and feel. The nerve cells found in the 
spinal cord are chiefly of two classes. One class re- 
ceives impressions brought through their fingers from 
the outside of the body. These impressions they com. 
municate to another class of cells, which, through their 
fingers, send out impulses to the parts from which the 
impressions came, or to other parts, causing them to act. 
For example, when the bottom of the foot is tickled, the 
limb draws up in spite of us. It does the same thing if 
we are asleep, or if the limb is paralyzed so that we can- 
not control it by the will. This is a very simple kind 
of thinking, which is done by the nerve cells of the 
spinal cord. There is a special collection of nerve cells 
in the enlarged upper end of the spinal cord, called the 
medulla, which does a little higher grade of thinking. 
These cells regulate the activity of the heart, bowels, 
liver, and other internal organs . At the base of the 
brain a large collection of nerve matter constitutes what 
is called the little brain, which has for its important func- 
tion the duty of regulating the action of those nerve 
cells that control the muscles, so that the muscular 
movements may be orderly and able to accomplish what 
is desired of them. 

Arranged at the under part of the brain are found 
nerve centers having charge of the organs by which we 
are able to see, hear, smell, taste, etc. When we see 
objects, it is because impressions are received by the 
eye, and are carried by nerves to the cells at the base of 
the brain which have charge of the sense of sight, and 
which are thereby made to act. Whatever causes these 
cells to act, will give us the impression of light, as 



48 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

illustrated by the effect of a blow upon the head, or a 
fall upon the ice, which causes us to see stars, by com- 
municating a shock to the nerve cells that have charge 
of the sight. 

Overtopping all the rest of the nervous system is to 
be found the great brain, which does the highest kind of 
thinking of which we are capable. It is with this part 
of the brain that we are enabled to reason. Here is also 
located the memory and all the various mental and 
moral faculties. This portion of the nervous system 
rules all the rest. It is the organ of mind and of will. 

Brain and Mind. — The next question, "What is 
the mind ? " we do not need to discuss, more than to 
observe that it is the result of the action of the brain, 
the highest kind of thinking done by nerve cells. How 
brain action results in thought, we cannot understand ; 
but it is also quite as difficult for us to understand how 
brain action results in muscular action, or in the mani- 
festation of force of any sort. That the brain is the 
organ of mind, and that mind is the result of its activity, 
is evidenced by a number of important facts : — 

1. When the brain is injured by disease or by acci- 
dent, the mind is impaired or destroyed, though the rest 
of the body may remain in comparative health. When 
the brain ceases to act, as in sound sleep, consciousness 
and mind action also cease. 

2. The amount of intelligence which an animal is 
able to exhibit, depends upon the size of the thinking 
portion of the brain in proportion to its body. Man is 
the most intelligent of all animals simply because he has 
more cells capable of thinking than any other animal. 
There are animals which possess a larger brain than 



OUR EYES. 49 



man, but none in which the thinking portion of the brain 
is so great, in proportion to the size of the body. It is 
also observed that men whose brains are largest in pro- 
portion to their body, other things being equal, possess 
the greatest intelligence. For example, a man who has 
a four-pound brain is more likely to be a philosopher, or 
to be distinguished for great mental powers, than a man 
whose brain has only the average weight of three pounds ; 
while a man whose brain weighs but two pounds, is 
certain to be an idiot. 

Women have smaller brains than men, the average 
weight of a female brain being about six ounces less 
than that of the average man. This fact is often cited 
by a certain class of philosophers to prove that woman 
has a weaker mind than man ; but the argument is not 
conclusive. Those who urge it overlook the fact that 
woman has a smaller body than man. This fact being 
taken into account, it is found that the average woman's 
brain is larger in proportion to her size than that of the 
average man. 

Our Eyes. — Nearly all animals possess certain nerves 
which are sensitive to light. Even the jelly-fish, which 
has hardly any nerves at all, and certainly has no eyes, 
seems happiest in the sunlight, and is disturbed when- 
ever a cloud passes over the sun. 

Did you ever see a leech, — one of those curious 
creatures which the doctor sometimes applies to draw 
away a little blood from an inflamed part? If you 
should examine one of these strange animals, you would 
find, close to the little opening which constitutes its 
mouth, a circular row of minute red spots. These are 
its eyes. By examining one of these red spots with a 



50 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

microscope, it is found to consist of a little dark pigment, 
or coloring matter, over which is spread a thin, transpar- 
ent skin. Between the colored and the transparent 
layers is placed a very delicate membrane, which con- 
tains the nerves of sight. These nerves pass from the 
eye-spots back into the creature's little brain, where 
they unite with certain cells which have charge of the 
sense of sight. 

The leech has the simplest kind of a seeing apparatus. 
The human eye has essentially the same kind of a struct- 
ure. The eyeball, as the round globe of the eye is called, 
has a dark colored lining at its back part and a transpar- 
ent membrane in front. 

Just inside of the delicate lining is stretched out the 
membrane which contains the nerves of sight. The 
space between this and the transparent membrane in 
front is filled up with transparent substances through 
which the light readily passes. In front, and just be- 
hind the transparent portion, is placed a little curtain 
with a hole in the center, which contracts and enlarges 
according to the intensity of the light, so as to protect 
the delicate nerves of sight from injury upon exposure 
to too bright light. 

We have not here the space to study the delicate 
arrangements by which the eye is made to see objects 
at a near or a remote distance. 

Our Ears. — The little barnacle, which passes its life 
clinging to the slimy bottom of some old ship, has the 
simplest kind of an ear imaginable. The organ in this 
animal is a little sac filled with fluid, which hangs in a 
chamber communicating with the surface, and filled 
with sea water. In the walls of this sac, the nerves of 



THE EAR. 51 



hearing, for which, in its vegetable-like life, it can have 
very little use, are distributed. 

The ear of a fish consists of a small sac, containing 
two or three chalky masses called ear bones, placed in a 
chamber adjacent to a sac containing the ear fluid and 
nerves of hearing. The fish's ear is entirely inclosed in 
a hollow in the skull. It hears by means of the 
vibration of the water, which is communicated to the 
bones of its head, thence to the ear bones, and then 
from these to the delicate sac from which the nerves of 
hearing convey the impression to the brain. 

The human ear, consisting of the same essential feat- 
ures as that of a fish or a barnacle, is much more compli- 
cated in its structure. There is within a hidden recess in 
the skull a curiously shaped sac filled with fluid, and 
containing a number of minute ear stones. This sac is 
connected by means of a chain of bones with a vibrat- 
ing membrane, which closes the end of the canal con- 
nected with the external organ ordinarily known as the 
ear. Sounds are produced by vibrations in the ear. 
These vibrations are gathered by the external ear, and 
cause vibration of the membrane, which, from its strik- 
ing resemblance to that of a 'drum, is called the drum 
membrane. This vibration is carried by the chain of 
bones across the cavity in which they are placed, termed 
the drum cavity, to the delicate sac, within which are 
found the ear stones and the nerves of hearing. The lit- 
tle ear stones dance up and down upon the ends of the 
nerves, and produce sensations which are carried from 
the ear to the brain. The vibrations produced are 
known as sound. Rules for preserving the health of the 
ear are given elsewhere in this work. 



52 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Noses. — The nose, one of the most conspicuous feat- 
ures of the face, though one of the most neglected or- 
gans of the body, is useful as well as ornamental, and 
worthy of at least a moment's notice. The primary of- 
fice of the nose is to receive air to supply the lungs. 
For this purpose it has two openings in the face, which 
communicate with the large nasal cavity, partially di- 
vided into two compartments by the septum of the nose, 
and which communicate at its back part through a sin- 
gle opening to the mouth, and thence with the air pas- 
sages leading to the lungs. 

On either side of the nasal cavity, three scroll- 
shaped projections, ranged one above the other, are 
to be found. The mucous membrane covering the up- 
permost of these projections, together with that which 
lines the other portions of the roof of the nasal cavity, 
contains the nerves of smell, by means of which we are 
able to distinguish odors. In civilized human beings, 
this sense is by no means as acute as in the lower ani- 
mals and in members of savage tribes. This is undoubt- 
edly due to the neglect to cultivate this important sense. 
It may also be attributed, in part at least, to the very 
general prevalence of nasal catarrh, which often results 
in partial or complete destruction of the sense of smell. 
This disease, its causes and proper treatment, will be 
referred to in another chapter. 

How and What We Taste. — The nerves of taste are 
located in the tongue and the back part of the mouth. 
Substances must be dissolved, to be tasted. The tongue, 
like the skin, is also an organ of touch. Indeed, it is 
much more sensitive to the touch than the skin. Sub- 
stances which have an acrid, saline, or astringent flavor, 



THE SENSE OF TASTE. 53 

like mustard, pepper, salt, etc., properly speaking, we 
do not taste at all, but feel. The sensations which they 
produce upon the tongue differ in degree, but not in 
kind, from that which they produce when applied to the 
skin. Many other substances which have a pronounced 
odor are smelled rather than tasted, the odorous prop- 
erty to which we attribute flavor being carried to the 
nose through its posterior opening by the breath, while 
the substance is being chewed. The only true tastes 
are sweet and bitter. Most flavors are combinations of 
taste proper with feeling or smell. 

The object of the sense of taste is to tell us whether 
substances taken into the mouth are wholesome or poi- 
sonous. It is a universal rule that substances with an 
acrid, astringent, or other unpleasant flavor, are unfit for 
food, and liable to do harm if taken in any quantity. 
Mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, ginger, and other similar 
substances commonly used as condiments, are all of them 
poisons. A drop of pure concentrated oil of cayenne 
will produce death almost as suddenly as a drop of Prus- 
sic acid. The use of these substances, we find, is pos- 
sible only when taken in very small quantities, or when 
the system has been gradually accustomed to their use. 
They are all injurious to the digestive organs, as we 
shall see elsewhere ; and, hence, the warning against 
them which nature gives us in their peculiar flavors, 
should be recognized and obeyed. 



The Mystery oe a New Life. 




subject in the entire range of physiology 
possesses such a power of fascination over 
most minds, as this. The physiologist stud- 
ies the process in plants and animals of all 
classes, and sees in it the manifestation of 
a creative power which seems little inferior 
to that by which the first man and the first 
of all living things were brought into exist- 
ence. The uneducated witness the phenom- 
enon of reproduction with less appreciation 
of its sublime affinities, but with endless wonderment, 
and an insatiable curiosity to penetrate the cloud in 
which the " mystery of a new life " is enveloped. 

Notwithstanding, the subject of reproduction has 
in some way become connected, in the minds of the 
majority of persons, with ideas of vulgarity and gross- 
ness. So deeply rooted is this prejudice, it is almost 
impossible to speak or write upon this subject, no matter 
how judiciously, without arousing a bitter and almost 
fanatical opposition, even from some of those who love 
purity and abhor vice, although in their blindness they 
place themselves in opposition to an effort to rob sensu- 
ality of its greatest ally, the cloak of mystery which 
custom has thrown about the subject of reproduction. 

[54] 




PLATE VII.— Low Forms of Life. 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 55 

The object of this chapter is to treat this subject, the 
anatomy and physiology of reproduction, from a purely 
scientific standpoint, divested of all mystery, and of that 
sentimental gloss beneath which the prurient literature 
of fiction has buried it. 

Anatomy of the Male Sexual Organs. — The essen- 
tial organs of reproduction in male animals are the testes, 
or testicles, which produce a viscid fluid known as sperm, 
and this, when mixed with other secretions, constitutes 
the seminal fluid. The testicles are, in man and most of 
the higher animals, suspended outside of the trunk in a 
membranous pouch, the scrotum. In the whale, the 
elephant, and the seal, the testes are retained within the 
trunk, where they are also found in man at an early 
period of foetal life. Occasionally, the organs fail to 
make their descent, or return to the abdominal cavity 
after having descended. (See Plate A.) 

The testes are separated by a partition in the scrotum. 
Each weighs from three-fourths of an ounce to an ounce, 
the left often being a little larger than the right. Each 
testicle is divided into several hundred lobules, in each 
of which is found coiled up a minute tube. These, 
joining together, form larger tubes, which, finally uniting, 
form a large duct, called the vas deferens. This tube, 
together with the arteries and veins of the part, forms 
the spermatic cord, by which the testicle is suspended. 

The vas deferens passes upward from the testicle, en- 
ters the abdominal cavity through an opening near the 
groin, and ends at the base of the bladder. Here it 
meets another duct, coming from a sac, the vesicula 
seminaliS) placed at the base of the bladder, in which is 
formed a peculiar mucous secretion. The two ducts 



56 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

unite to form a duct called the common seminal, or ejacu- 
latory duct. The last-named duct passes through a mass 
of glandular and muscular tissue, called the prostate 
gland, and joins the urethra, the urinary passage from the 
bladder outward. (See Plate B.) 

That portion of the urethra which passes through 
the prostate gland is known as the prostatic portion. 
Just in front of the prostate is a somewhat contracted 
portion about one inch in length, known as the mem- 
branous portion. Just here are found a pair of small 
bodies known as Cotvpers glands, which, with the pros- 
tate, furnish the greater part of the secretion known as 
the seminal fluid. 

The urethra passes outward through the male organ 
of copulation, the penis, which is composed of a peculiar 
kind of structure known as erectile tissue. The end of 
the organ, termed the glans, is covered by a fold of the 
skin, called the prepuce, or foreskin. This is sometimes 
too long, and is often so contracted at the end that 
it cannot be readily drawn back over the glans, which is 
essential for daily cleansing, owing to the rapid accumu- 
lation of a secretion peculiar to this locality. 

The Physiology of Reproduction. — If we gather a 
little of the green scum which may be found upon any 
stagnant pool, and place a small speck of it under a micro- 
scope, we shall find among the many curious forms of 
plants and animals presented to the eye, a peculiar class 
of organisms which are arranged in rows and attached 
together, so as to form filaments. These are very sim- 
ple forms, each individual being scarcely more than a 
simple, rounded cell. If we study these curious forms 
of life for some time, we will occasionally find two of the 




PLATZ IX.— Sex in Plants 



THE MY8TEBY OF A NEW LIFE. 57 

rows arranged side by side, and may notice that two of 
the cells — one in each of the rows — lying adjacent to 
each other, have apparently grown together, as seen in 
Fig. 1, Plate IX. By watching very closely indeed, 
we may observe that the contents of one of the cells 
seems to be moving toward the other cell. 

This is the simplest form of generation. The cells 
composing one of the filaments are of one kind, which 
may be termed male; and those of the other are of 
another kind, which may be termed female. Although 
the eye, even when aided by the microscope, discovers 
no apparent difference between them, they are known to 
be different because they act differently. When the two 
kinds of cells unite, one cell is gradually merged into the 
other. The cell which is thus lost is the male cell. The 
process of combining is known as fecundation , impregna- 
tion, or fertilization . 

The cell formed by the combination of the male and 
female cells becomes what botanists call a "resting 
spore," which after a time undergoes many curious 
changes, by which new individuals of the same species 
are produced. 

Sex in Flowers. — In higher orders of plants, a very 
similar process occurs. One flower, or one part of a 
flower, produces the male element, and another part of 
the flower produces the female element. (See Figs. 2, 
3, Plate IX.) The male element in the flower is known 
as pollen, which is produced upon the stems, or male 
parts, and transferred by insects or the wind to the pis- 
til, one of the female parts of the flower. At the bot- 
tom of the pistil is found one or more cells, in which is 
contained the female element, known in the flower as 



58 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the ovule. The pollen grain, lodging upon the pistil, 
sends down through its structure a fine, thread-like root, 
which penetrates the ovule, and thus impregnates, or fer- 
tilizes it, as the result of which it develops into the 
seed, and this, being planted, reproduces the original 
plant. This is a much higher form of reproduction than 
that which occurs in the pond scums; but its essential 
characteristics are identically the same. 

Reproduction in Animals. — Although wonderfully 
unlike in most particulars, animals and plants approach 
very near together in their mode of reproducing their 
kind. Reproduction in animals, as in plants, begins with 
the union of two unlike elements, called respectively 
male and female. In some of the lowest forms of animal 
life, as among the most lowly vegetable forms, the begin- 
ning of a new life is laid in the union of two individuals, 
one of which loses its identity in the other. In some 
instances, a new individual, formed by the union of the 
male and the female elements, simply grows and divides. 
The newly formed creatures are again subdivided until 
many millions may be produced from the first pair. 

In the higher animals, as in the higher orders of plants, 
reproduction becomes a complicated and most highly 
interesting process. Instead of having a combination of 
two entire individuals at the beginning of the reproduc- 
tive process, we have simply the combination of two 
elements which are produced respectively by male and 
female organisms, each of which is furnished with a spe- 
cial organ or set of organs, for the purpose of producing 
its characteristic reproductive element. The reproduc- 
tive element in animals is known as a spermatozoon. 
The female element is called the ovum. For illustration 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



*j0$jb> ##Si%> 


<^*iil«*^ 


|p|p^®|. Jp^ll 


1 t »l 


''^§^0^^ '%iBS^ 


f k## 

7 C^##® 



%. 4. 



%. 5. 




^/p. & 




%. 7. 



Fig. 8. 



PLATE VIII.— The Reproductive Elements. 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 59 



of some of the different forms of these elements found in 
different species of animals, see Fig. 7, Plate VIII. 

Testes and Ovaries. — The male element, as already 
explained, is produced by organs known as testes ; the 
female element, by organs called ovaries. The produc- 
tion of the generative elements is, in some classes of ani- 
mals, constant, and in others intermittent or periodical. 
In most species of animals the male element is produced 
constantly, while the female element is produced, or at 
least matured, only at regular intervals. In the human 
female, as in the female of all the higher orders of ani- 
mals, the ova are matured periodically, usually in human 
species, once in about four weeks, the cycle being usually 
marked by the menses, or menstruation. The ovum is 
matured at the time of menstruation, but it is not usually 
discharged until a few days subsequently. In lower 
animals, the periodical process known as "the rut," cor- 
responds to menstruation in the human species, although 
it is not accompanied by a sanguineous discharge. , The 
latter has been noticed, however, in some species of the 
ape tribe which approach most nearly to man in their 
physical structure. 

Fecundation . — The act of impregnation, by which 
the male and female elements are brought in contact in 
the higher forms of animal and vegetable life, is accom- 
panied by a greater or less degree of excitement on the 
part of the individual organisms. Even in plants, during 
the development and fertilization of their flowers, which 
are the sexual organs of plants, there is a noticeable 
increase of activity, a rise of temperature, and an 
exuberance of perfume, which indicate a high degree of 
excitement of a peculiar kind. In the higher animals, 



•60 MAJST, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the act is accompanied by the highest degree of nervous 
excitement of which the body is capable, the exhausting 
character of which is readily seen by the fact that in 
some instances the act is almost immediately followed 
by the death of one of the participants; — the male — as in 
the case of the honey-bee, 

Gardeners are also well aware of the fact that plants 
become sickly, and go into a sort of decline, if compelled 
to produce flowers too profusely, or for too great a 
length of time. 

Conception. — In impregnation, the ovum is pene- 
trated by the spermatozoa which come in contact with 
it, and ultimately disappear in its interior. Whether 
these curious bodies, formerly erroneously supposed to 
be animalcules, pass directly through the wall of the 
ovum, or through an opening specially provided for their 
entrance, is not certainly known, although it is probable 
that, in some species of animals at least, the ovum is 
provided with an opening of the kind referred to. 

When the ovum has been thus impregnated, concep- 
tion is said to have taken place. It is not certainly 
known whether, in the human family, conception occurs 
in the uterus (or womb), in the Fallopian tubes (the 
passages which lead from the ovary to the womb), or 
upon the surface of the ovary, where the ovum is formed. 
It is possible, however, that conception may occur at 
either one of these points. 

Development. — Wherever the conception may occur, 
the ovum soon fixes itself upon some point on the inner 
lining of the womb, and the period of pregnancy begins. 
This period usually lasts nine calendar months, or ten 
lunar months, during which the menstrual flow ceases, 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 61 

though in occasional instances it may continue in a 
somewhat modified form, usually during the early 
months of pregnancy. 

Human Affinities in Lower Animals. — During the 
period of pregnancy, the ovum undergoes a most remark- 
able series of changes, passing through various stages of 
development, in some of which it resembles in the most 
wonderful degree various lower forms of animal life. 
At one period, the developing human being, technically 
called ^ foetus, resembles, not very remotely, a partially 
developed chick from an egg which has been incubated 
for a few days. At another period, the resemblance of 
the foetus to that of a dog of a different age is so great 
that any but an experienced physiologist might readily 
be deceived. At one time, the extremities of the foetus 
resemble very closely the stunted flippers of a seal or 
walrus. At a certain period, its body is entirely cov- 
ered with hair, like its near relative in the animal king- 
dom, the ape. These facts have been used by the 
believers in the doctrine of evolution as evidence of the 
common ancestry of man and lower animals. They only 
indicate, however, community of design in the whole 
animal kingdom, rather than unity of origin. 

Childbirth. — At the end of the period of gestation 
or pregnancy, parturition or childbirth occurs, and the 
young human being begins a more independent life, though 
still wholly dependent upon the mother for protection and 
sustenance. In some lower animals, the young are much 
more independent at birth than infant human beings, 
being prepared to begin at once the battle of life on 
their own account; while in other species the young are 
at birth still more feeble and helpless than the human 



62 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

infant. In the kangaroo, the foetus is born when but a 
few weeks old, but does not become sufficiently devel- 
oped to be left out of the parental pouch, a sort of 
nursery bag in which the kangaroo carries its young, 
until nine or ten months of age. 

Plural Pregnancy. — In human species, but one 
individual is usually born at a time ; but plural pregnan- 
cies are not uncommon. Twins occur in the proportion 
of about one to seventy-five or eighty cases of childbirth ; 
triplets occur not more frequently than one in five 
thousand cases ; and plural pregnancies in which the 
number has reached four or five, have been reported, 
but are extremely rare. 

Control of Sex. — There has been much speculation 
upon the cause of sex, and methods of controlling it. 
Many ingenious theories have been propounded, but 
none have stood the test of thorough scientific investiga- 
tion. Prof. Carpenter, the distinguished English phys- 
iologist, thus sums up the present state of knowledge on 
this subject : — 

" The conditions on which the differentiation of sex 
immediately depend, are as yet extremely obscure. M. 
Marc. Thury, who has paid great attention to this sub- 
ject in cattle, has arrived at the conclusion (which, 
however, demands much confirmatory evidence for its 
establishment) that the sex of the progeny of a particu- 
lar act of sexual intercourse is dependent upon the 
period of menstruation (in women) or of rut (in animals) 
at which the impregnation of the ovum takes place. If 
this occurs at the commencement of the period, the off- 
spring will invariably be a female ; if toward the close, 
male, the cause of the difference being the more advanced 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 63 

stage of maturation of the ovum in the latter case, owing 
to its having been for a longer period exposed to the 
warmth of the body of the mother. 

" Ploss attributes the sex of the child to the quantity 
and quality of the nutriment received by the mother 
during pregnancy, since, from a review of various coun- 
tries, and a comparison of the relative numbers of males 
and females born, he finds that when the food is abundant 
and plentiful, the proportion of females rises ; whilst, 
under opposite conditions, males are most frequent. In 
mountainous countries, the number of males also increases 
relatively. 

"Preussen, however, on the other hand, considers 
that better and more abundant food is required by the 
mother for the production of males. There is strong 
statistical evidence that the relative numbers of males 
and females are in some way influenced by the relative 
ages of the parents. 

" The following table expresses the average results 
collected by M. Hofacker in Germany. The numbers 
indicate the proportion of male births to one hundred 
females, under the several conditions mentioned in the 
first column : — 

Father younger than mother, 90.6. 

Father and mother of equal age, 90.0. 

Father older by 1 to 6 years, 103.4. 

Father older by 6 to 9 years, 124.7. 

Father older by 9 to 18 years, 143.7. 

Father older by 18 and more, 200.0. 

" From this it appears that the more advanced age of 
the male parent has a very decided influence in occasion- 
ing a preponderance in the number of male infants ; and 



64 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

this tallies with the fact that, taking the average of the 
whole of Europe, over which, as a general rule, the state 
and customs of society bring about a decided preponder- 
ance of age, among married couples, on the side of the 
husband, the proportion is about 106 males to 100 
females." 

Ante-Natal Influences. — That the character of the 
individual, physical, mental, and moral, is strongly in- 
fluenced by the circumstances and conditions surround- 
ing the mother during pregnancy, is a fact too well 
attested to be seriously questioned. The ancients seem 
to have been acquainted with this fact, as is shown by the 
method adopted by Jacob to get even with his close- 
fisted father-in-law. The early Greeks carefully regu- 
lated by law the conduct, diet, and other habits of life 
of pregnant women. They were forbidden the use of 
all stimulating and exciting foods, lest the unborn citizen 
should be injured thereby. 

The disregard of this important fact is undoubtedly 
a prolific cause of the growing constitutional feebleness, 
and the multiplying physical, mental, and moral disorders 
which characterize the race at the present day; and 
unless checked, will, before the lapse of many centuries, 
seriously threaten its extermination. We shall not here 
occupy space to give in detail rules of conduct which 
should govern parents in respect to this matter, but 
simply note the following particulars : — 

1. As a pithy writer has said, " It is the greatest of 
human felicities to be well born ; " and certainly to be 
well born is one of the most inalienable of human rights. 
It is evidently the duty of those who take upon them- 
selves the responsibility of bringing new beings into 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 65 

the world, to see that their physical, mental, and moral 
conditions are such as will render it possible and probable 
that they may be healthfully and happily constituted, 
and prepared to live a happy and useful life. 

2. It is unquestionably the duty of the parents to 
secure for the mother, during the months of pregnancy, 
such conditions and surroundings as will not only insure 
to her physical, mental, and moral health, but will 
encourage the development in the child of desirable 
traits of character, and the suppression of undesirable 
qualities. 

That much may be accomplished by careful observance 
of the above particulars, carrying them out in every 
detail of life, has been established beyond reasonable 
doubt by numerous examples. The hap-hazard way in 
which human beings come into the world, is a disgrace 
and a stigma upon our boasted civilization. Men who 
devote years of study to the acquirement of such knowl- 
edge as will enable them to improve the breeds of their 
horses or cattle, and spend thousands in costly experi- 
ments for the purpose of perfecting and demonstrating 
their theories, assume the responsibility of bringing into 
being children who are to take their places in the world's 
activities a few years hence, without ever giving a 
moment's thought to the possible relation of causes and 
results in the generation of human beings. It never 
seems to occur to them that the same principles which 
are known to hold good respecting the breeding of 
animals, apply with equal force to the breeding of human 
beings. The following interesting historical case will 
serve to illustrate one of the laws governing ante-natal 
influence : — 

5 



MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 



u A Roman magistrate, little, ugly, and hunchbacked, 
had by his wife a child exactly resembling the statue 
of iEsop. Frightened at the sight of this little monster, 
and fearful of becoming the father of a posterity so 
deformed, he went to consult Galen, the most dis- 
tinguished physician of his time, who counseled him to 
place three statues of love around the conjugal bed, 
one at the foot, the others, one on each side, in order 
that the eyes of his young spouse might be constantly 
feasted on these charming figures. The magistrate 
followed* strictly the advice of the physician, and it is 
recorded that his wife bore him a child surpassing in 
beauty all his hopes." 

Puberty. — At the age of twelve to fourteen years, 
marked physiological changes occur in both sexes. 
Prior to this time, those organs which particularly dis- 
tinguish the sexes have remained in a condition of im- 
perfect development, and the distinguishing features 
of the general form of the body have been far less 
marked than they speedily become after this age. 
Upon reaching this period, the system seems to take 
a new start in the process of development, and within 
a few months those changes take place which trans- 
form the little boy into a young man, and the little 
girl into a young woman. 

In the lad, the shoulders broaden, the face changes, 
evidences of a mustache and beard begin to make their 
appearance, a thick growth of hair appears in the arm- 
pits and upon other parts of the body, and there is a 
rapid increase in hight and weight. This is a critical 
period for all boys, during which they should be care- 
fully watched by their parents or guardians, as they 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 67 

are exposed to new clangers and temptations, and are 
likely to begin to go astray in ways which may ulti- 
mately destroy their happiness and usefulness. Be- 
ginning to feel that he is a man, the lad who has pre- 
viously been ready and willing to consult his parents' 
wishes and to yield to their counsels, now often be- 
gins to think himself competent to mark out his own 
course of action, and is likely to become headstrong, 
to break away from the restraints of home, and to 
disregard the advice and admonitions of his superiors. 
Boys ought to understand that this disposition, if 
yielded to, will certainly lead them into danger, and 
will quite likely result in their ruin. It is in this way 
that thousands of promising lads have been led to 
make shipwreck of their lives. 

Hygiene of Puberty. — This is a period when the 
physical health needs especial care. The extra de- 
mands made upon the body require an ample supply 
of wholesome and nourishing food. Abundance of sleep 
and plenty of exercise in the open air should be se- 
cured. Boys ' at this period should not be kept too 
steadily engaged in hard work, as it may stunt their 
growth and weaken their constitutions for life. Con- 
stant occupation of some sort is desirable, but it should 
not be too monotonous. The weak muscles of a young 
boy will not well endure use in one kind of employ- 
ment many hours at a time ; but by change of work, 
such a lad may be kept busily employed without in- 
jury and with decided advantage. The mind should 
be occupied by a proper amount of study and whole- 
some reading; but too much reading, especially the 
reading of exciting and fictitious literature, should be 
avoided. 



68 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Curiosities of Reproduction. — While in the human 
species, and in many of the higher animals, but a single 
ovum is usually impregnated at a time, in some of the 
lower orders, particularly in fishes, the number of ova 
impregnated, or spawned, at once is sometimes prodig- 
ious. For example, it has been estimated that more 
than nine million eggs are sometimes spawned by the 
codfish during a single season. 

Nature seems to have been very judicious in the dis- 
tribution of reproductive powers, since sharks and other 
carnivorous inhabitants of the sea produce but very few 
eggs ; while the vegetable-eating fishes reproduce pro- 
digiously. Harmless and vegetable-eating animals, such 
as the rabbit and the guinea-pig, breed much more pro- 
lifically than carnivorous animals, like the lion, panther, 
wolf, etc. 

The different modes of impregnation of the ova to 
be observed in different classes of animals is very inter- 
esting. In the lowest orders of animals, contact be- 
tween the sexes seems to be the exception rather than 
the rule. The eggs oft polyps, corals, and allied classes 
of animals, are sown broadcast upon the waves, where a 
certain number of them meet by pure accident with the 
fertilizing element required for their impregnation. 

The female fish, in the spawning season, scatters her 
eggs among the rocks of some sheltered bay, or along 
the gravelly bottom of a river. During this season, she 
is closely followed by the male, who scatters in the 
same place the sperm, by which the eggs are fertilized. 

The cuttle-fish deposits its black eggs in masses, 
which look very much like bunches of grapes, the eggs 
being held together by glutinous strings, which serve 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 69 

also to fasten the masses to the stems of marine plants, 
rocks, or floating objects. 

The egg of the shark is a sort of leathery sac, 
shaped much like a pillow-case, having attached to each 
corner a spiral filament, by means of which it becomes 
entangled among the sea-weeds at the bottom of the 
sea, and is thus saved from being washed ashore by the 
waves. 

That curious creature, the argonaut, carries its eggs 
with it, securely lodged in the little nooks and crannies 
of its shell. 

Some of the mollusks arrange their eggs in long, 
gelatinous ribbons, which they glue to the stems of sea- 
weeds and the surface of rocks. The common whelk 
arranges its eggs in little bundles containing several 
eggs apiece, wrapping each bunch in a tough covering, 
and joining all together in large bunches, which are 
often washed ashore by the waves. 

Remarkable Reproductive Processes. — Some very 
remarkable phenomena are observed in the reproductive 
processes of insects. For example, the seventeen-year 
locust bores holes in the tender twigs of trees, in which 
it deposits its eggs, then leaving them to care for them- 
selves. In due time the eggs are hatched, and the 
young, after going through several " moults," bury 
themselves in the ground, reappearing only after the 
lapse of seventeen years, during which time they undergo 
various transformations. 

A 'peculiar worm carries her thousands of eggs on 
her back, buried in a mass of mucus. After a time the 
eggs hatch out, and then there appears the curious 
spectacle of a mother with a whole population of young 
ones, numbering many thousands, growing on her back. 



70 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Even the star-fish, one of the lowest forms of life, 
has a care for its eggs and its young. The former it 
surrounds with its suckers, and carries them about with 
it ; and if they happen to float away, it will carefully 
gather them up again. 

Reproduction without Sexual Union. — In some 
cases, an enormous multiplication of the species seems 
to take place, under some circumstances at least, with- 
out the union of sexual elements. For instance, a polyp 
may be divided into many pieces, and each piece will in 
time develop into an independent and perfect polyp. 
Indeed, the animal seems to multiply its species, to a 
certain degree at least, by throwing out buds, which 
gradually separate from the parent mass, and become 
independent animals. 

Even in lizards, lobsters, and some fishes, this kind 
of reproductive power seems to be present in a degree. 
In some species of fish, if the tail happens to be lost by 
accident, a new one will be grown on. If a lobster or 
a lizard happens to lose one of its legs in a fight with an 
enemy, in a few weeks it grows on an entirely new 
member as good as the old one. Some species of earth- 
worms may be cut in two without destroying the animal. 
Indeed, each half will become an independent worm, one 
portion growing on a head ; the other, a tail. 

Mongrels and Hybrids. — Sexual unions usually 
take place only between individuals of the same race, or 
species. The progeny which result from union of indi- 
viduals of the same species, but of different races, is 
called a mongrel. All the various crosses between dif- 
ferent races or varieties of dogs are mongrels. The 
mulatto is a mongrel, being a mixture of the white with 



THE MYSTERY OF A NEW LIFE. 71 

the black race. Mongrels are quite readily obtained, 
and are found to be equally as fertile as their parents. 

A hybrid is the result of union between individuals 
belonging to different species. We have many exam- 
ples of hybrids among flowers, but unions of this sort 
among animals are much more rare. It is thought by 
many naturalists that hybrids never occur in nature, as 
it is only with difficulty that they can be produced, even 
by the intelligent aid given by man in securing fertiliza- 
tion. 

The mule is a hybrid, resulting from a cross between 
the horse and the ass. The hare and the rabbit have 
also been crossed, producing leporides. In South Amer- 
ica much attention has been given to crossing the goat 
and the sheep, producing an animal called a chabin, the 
peculiar fleece of which is highly prized. 

The mule, as is well known, is not fertile, and it is 
noticed that the chabin soon runs out, or loses its pecul- 
iar characteristics, requiring frequent renewal by original 
crossing. 

Monsters. — Sometimes the process of development 
going on in the foetus during pregnancy is interrupted 
or deranged so as to leave some organ deficiently devel- 
oped, or developed to an excessive degree. By this 
means, various strange deformities are produced, vary- 
ing in extent from a simple webbed condition of the fin- 
gers or toes, or a deficiency in the upper jaw, known as 
hare-lip, to cases in which the legs are absent, the feet 
being joined directly to the body, or those horrible cases 
in which the head is lacking, or so fearfully transformed 
as to resemble some lower animal much more than the 
human form divine. The appearance of these strange 



72 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

looking creatures has given rise to the popular notion 
that they are the result of a sexual union with some 
lower animal. This is, however, entirely incorrect, as 
nature has placed a safeguard against such an amalgama- 
tion by rendering conception between animals of such 
different species, quite impossible. 

Hermaphrodites. — Those unfortunate creatures 
known as hermaphrodites, are the result of excesses or 
deficiencies in the development of the sexual organs. 
They are not really a compound of both sexes, as is 
generally supposed, but are simply deformed males or 
females, the deformity sometimes being of such a char- 
acter as to render it difficult to determine to which sex 
the individual belongs. It should be mentioned, how- 
ever, that one or two cases have been recorded in which 
an individual possessed the characters of a male upon one 
side, and of a female upon the other. In a single in- 
stance an individual has been found to possess, in entire, 
but rudimentary form, both male and female organs. 

An example of an hermaphrodite female is to be 
found in the mate of a male calf when a cow gives birth 
to twins, one of which is a male. Such an animal is 
known as a free-marten. 

Among the lower orders of animals there are many 
species, the individuals of which are natural hermaphro- 
dites in the proper sense of the word, possessing all the 
characteristics of both sexes. In some instances, the 
union of both sexes is necessary for impregnation, as is 
the case with the snail; but in other cases, as in the oys- 
ter, self-impregnation occurs. 



From Boyhood Up. 




— ^ess&^ 

HE little boy who stands prattling at his 
mother's knee, happy in the sunshine of her 
smiles, and sad only when her loving face 
shows grief or pain, is innocence personified. 
Fortunate indeed would it be for the human 
race if these days of childish innocence and 
purity might be lengthened out through all 
the years of boyhood to manhood. But 
rarely indeed is this the case. Almost at 
the threshold of life, vice or sin in some form 
steps in to mar its beauty and destroy its purity. How 
often has the sorrowing mother, whom death has called 
to lay away in the cold grave a lovely infant son, found 
consolation in the thought that death had claimed him 
while yet his heart was pure and his soul unstained ; 
and, as she thought of that other son whom she had 
reared to manhood with tender care and prayerful 
solicitude, only to see her hopes dashed to the ground 
and her fond anticipations hopelessly wrecked by some 
emissary of evil who had led her beautiful, boy, the child 
of her heart, down the steep declivity of sin to a living 
death of shame and ignominy,— how she has mourned 
that he, too, had not filled an infant's grave ; and found 
comfort for the dead in sorrow for the living ! 

[73] 



74 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Nothing is more sad than to see a boy who, from 
earliest infancy, has been the object of parental care and 
love, breaking away from the gentle restraints of home, 
and plunging headlong into sin and vice. To save some 
few boys, and to help them to grow up to a noble and 
useful manhood, is the chief object of this book. 

Notice that little boy. His rosy face beams with a 
glorious wealth of untainted blood, and a constitution 
unimpaired by inherited disease. In his gleeful laugh 
rings the music of a brave and joyous heart. His 
bright, beaming eyes tell of a generous love and a trust- 
ing confidence. What wonderful promise of a grand and 
useful manhood is there ! Could such a lad come up 
through youth and early manhood to mature middle age 
with all his faculties developed, expanded, strengthened 
with his growth, and matured by experience, what could 
he not accomplish ? 

Rarely indeed does a boy come to years of maturity 
without having lost, through ignorance or vice or bad 
conditions of life, much of those noble powers and 
qualities with which nature endowed him, and by means 
of which he might have served his fellow-men, and made 
life tenfold more useful, than, with wasted powers and 
weakened energies, it is possible for him to do. 

Boys' Rights. — Every boy has a right, first of all, 
to be well born. Of the few things which may be 
inherited from parents or ancestors, a good constitution 
and vigorous health and a well-balanced body may be 
reckoned as most valuable of all. It is as impossible to 
make a strong, energetic, healthy man out of a puny, 
weakly boy baby, as to make a strong ox out of a puny,, 
sickly calf. It is true that in very rare cases unpromis- 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 75 

ing infants do afterward develop into strong and healthy 
persons ; but in these instances the constitution must 
have been unusually vigorous to have enabled the person 
to surmount the obstacles presented by a feeble infancy 
and childhood, and develop the robust health of later 
years. 

Badly Born. — Thousands of boys are cheated out of 
the life and vigor and physical stamina to which they 
are lawfully entitled, by the spendthrift habits, as re- 
gards vitality, of their parents. The wealthy man who 
squanders his property regardless of the future welfare 
of his children, spending his money recklessly and fool- 
ishly, is no more blame-worthy than the man who 
squanders his capital of strength in the same manner. 
Many a lad might truthfully rise up in condemnation of 
his parents, and say, " My father ruined my constitution 
by bad eating or drinking, by excessive labor in the mad 
race for fame or riches, and by selfish gratification in the 
use of alcoholic liquors or tobacco." Or he might say, 
" My mother robbed me of the health to which I was 
entitled, by dressing regardless of the requirements of 
health, by fashionable dissipation of every sort, and by 
neglect of the bodily culture necessary to develop and 
maintain good physical health." 

As an acute thinker has said, " The greatest of all 
human felicities is to be well born," — a blessing which 
the greater proportion of human beings are not permit- 
ted to enjoy. 

Being well born, a boy has a right to be well reared, 
to be carefully nurtured, like the rare and tender plant 
which the gardener carefully protects from injury from 
every possible source, and faithfully supplies with all 



76 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the conditions needed to develop in the very best 
possible manner and to the highest degree of perfection 
its symmetry and beauty. If one-half the amount of 
attention were given to children, that is bestowed upon 
raising blooded horses, cows, sheep, or even sporting 
dogs and pet canaries, there would be a far less number 
of human beings who might be truthfully labeled, 
" human failures," numerous examples of which at 
present may be found in every community. 

Parents who take the responsibility of bringing chil- 
dren into the world, should consider that in so doing 
they assume the grave responsibility of bringing them up 
in such a way as will make them capable of enjoying life, 
and making it a success for themselves and for their 
fellow-men. The rearing of a child comprises much 
more than simply supplying it with food and clothing 
and a place in which to live. 

Other Natural Rights. — The natural rights of a 
child demand that it should be supplied with proper food, 
clothing, and a good home. Proper food and clothing 
mean, not simply such as happen to be most convenient, 
or. even such as is fashionable or customary, but such as 
will best serve the wants of its body. Consequently, 
all parents should give to this matter serious study, that 
they may be able to form a proper judgment of what is 
best for their children in these particulars. 

Thousands of young constitutions are every year 
ruined by bad food, before their possessors have reached 
the end of the first year of life ; and thousands upon 
thousands perish before the fifth year is reached, from 
the effects of bad feeding and bad clothing combined. 

In thousands of homes, in civilized lands, the little 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 77 

ones lying in cribs or creeping or toddling about the 
floor, are being slowly poisoned by an atmosphere con- 
taminated with impurities, the result of imperfect venti- 
lation. Millions of human lives are snuffed out before 
the vital flame has scarcely begun to burn, by these 
unnecessary and most easily preventable causes. This is 
a matter certainly worthy of most serious attention on the 
part of every intelligent parent. 

Education. — Every boy is entitled to a good educa- 
tion. By education we mean, not simply " schooling," 
or a course at a university, but that sort of training and 
culture which will fit him for usefulness in life. Educa- 
tion, if properly begun, will commence with the first 
dawn of intelligence. The human infant at birth knows 
less than the young of most lower animals at the same 
period of life, and some weeks elapse before any marked 
intelligence makes its appearance ; but when the child 
first begins to reason, even in the most primitive and 
simple manner, its education really begins, and from this 
time forward its mental as well as its bodily activities 
should be directed in such a manner as to secure to it a 
symmetrical development of the entire individual, phys- 
ically, mentally, and morally. 

The so-called system of education and the influence 
to which most boys are subjected for a longer or shorter 
period while in school, seem to the writer to be exceed- 
ingly faulty. The aim appears to be to give the student 
facts and knowledge, rather than the ability to discover 
new facts and apply old ones. It usually neglects the 
body almost wholly, and frequently produces a most 
one-sided development, which, while it at first enables 
the person to appear to great advantage, ultimately 
results in failure, both mentally and physically. 



78 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The aim of education should be to prepare the indi- 
vidual to make the most of himself in life. It should be 
a process which will make the most practical men, the 
most effective workers for the advancement of all human 
institutions. Any system which neglects any one of the 
three departments of human nature, mental, moral, or 
physical, must be necessarily a failure. Simply educat- 
ing a boy in the arts and sciences, without developing a 
love for truth, purity, goodness, justice, and other moral 
qualities, only prepares him to become the most expert 
of criminals, and fits him the most successfully to elude 
discovery and defeat justice. So, also, mental and 
moral discipline, without proper physical culture, may 
in many respects qualify men for great usefulness in 
those departments of human life ; but will very likely 
leave them so lacking in the physical force and stamina 
required for an active and useful life as to render them 
dead weights upon society, rather than effective agents 
for the advancement of its interests. 

Proper Aims of Education. — The education should 
be such as will encourage originality of thought, thor- 
oughness in investigation and research, and thorough- 
ness in everything. Impracticable and dogmatic meth- 
ods, so generally employed in the education of the 
young, generally result in dwarfing the most valuable 
qualities of the mind ; and it is only those minds which 
are possessed of an extraordinary degree of individuality 
and independence of thought that are able to escape this 
depraving and deteriorating process. 

When a boy first begins to observe and think, en- 
courage his budding mind in the direction in which the 
natural instincts lead. Bring in his way objects of in- 



9 

FBOM BOYHOOD UP. 79 

terest which will attract his attention. When he gets 
old enough to question concerning the properties of the 
new objects which he sees, patiently satisfy his curiosity 
"by giving him the information which he desires. If he 
shows some originality of thought, encourage him in 
thinking for himself, and lead his mind in such direc- 
tions as will give his investigative disposition opportu- 
nity for a healthy development. 

Even oddities and eccentricities are by no means to 
be always repressed, though excessive oddity should not 
be encouraged. If there were no odd or eccentric peo- 
ple in the world, there would be little or no progress. 
The strange departures from the beaten track of custom 
in thought and manners which sometimes amuse or 
startle us, often lead to the discovery of new truths or 
the exposure of old errors, which are fostered and main- 
tained more effectively by our conservative educational 
systems than would be possible by any other means. 

Habits. — Cultivation of correct habits from earliest 
childhood up, especially during the years preceding the 
attainment of maturity, is a matter of greatest conse- 
quence to every human being. Habits are very easily 
formed, but are changed only with the greatest difficulty. 
Habits are created simply by the repetition of the same 
act. In the beginning, the formation of good habits is 
often not more difficult than the formation of bad habits. 
The repetition of good acts renders them so easy that 
they are performed almost automatically, without a 
thought and without effort. By repetition, also, bad hab- 
its come to be performed with equal ease. No parent can 
accomplish so much real good for his son in any other 
way as by aiding him in the early years of life in the 
formation of thoroughly good habits. 



80 MAW, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The easy grace and courtesy of manner which enable 
some men to make friends of every one they meet, and 
without apparent effort, are almost entirely the result of 
the early formation of habits of manner which render them 
agreeable to their fellows. The boorishness and repul- 
siveness of other men, whose real mental and moral 
worth may be quite as great, which interfere so greatly 
with their success and advancement in life, may also be 
traced, in most instances, to the formation in boyhood 
of bad habits in relation to personal manners and deport- 
ment. 

So it is in other particulars. Bad habits that are 
acquired in boyhood, usually adhere to an individual 
through his whole lifetime. In early boyhood, while 
the brain is soft and impressible and easily molded by 
the influences which may be brought upon it, it is a 
matter of greatest importance that correct and thorough 
habits should be formed. Habits relate to physical and 
mental as well as moral acts, and have an important rela- 
tion to nearly every act or thought. 

It is plainly the duty of parents to aid their children 
in forming such habits as will be conducive to their hap- 
piness and usefulness in after years. A child allowed 
to grow up with slack, slovenly, and careless habits, will 
all his lifetime be compelled to contend against obstacles 
to success which will make failure in every undertaking 
of life almost certain; while a child whose early educa- 
tion has been such as to enable him to acquire habits of 
order, promptness, neatness, thoroughness, and faithful- 
ness, possesses such qualities as will insure success in 
almost every enterprise he engages in. Every child 
ought to appreciate the aid which may be given by its 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 81 

parents in the formation of correct habits, and should 
readily listen to the advice and counsel which the wis- 
dom and experience of a father or a mother may so well 
give, and which will be of inestimable value to a young 
and inexperienced lad. 

Food, Health, and Morals. — Of physical habits, 
some of the most important relate to eating. As these 
habits are formed at a very early age, and have most 
important relations to health and happiness in later years, 
they are particularly worthy of attention. A child, even 
at a tender age, often acquires the habit of eating for the 
simple purpose of gratifying the palate, and very early 
acquires those tendencies which, when fully developed, 
end in a complete enslavery of the individual to appetite, 
or gluttony. At a very early age, the child should be 
taught that the appetite is to be controlled, that its palate 
must not be the sole judge respecting its food, but 
that reason must wield the controlling influence ; that it 
should eat what is best for it, rather than what it likes 
best. Of course, it is understood that the food should 
be palatable, and calculated to satisfy a healthy taste ; 
but children very soon acquire a fondness for highly 
flavored substances, such as sweetmeats, tidbits of every 
sort, and stimulating foods ; and if the appetite is grat- 
ified, it soon demands continual satisfaction, to the ex- 
clusion of those simple and less highly flavored substances 
which constitute the natural food of children, and which 
satisfy a healthy and unperverted taste. The aim should 
be to preserve natural simplicity of taste, unexaggerated 
by morbid excitation of the bodily appetites. 

Quite extended opportunities for observation have 
convinced us that the common custom of supplying 



82 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

children with liberal quantities of meat, is a practice 
which tends to the excitement of morbid and unwhole- 
some tendencies, and is very often productive of dis- 
ease. Nature furnishes, in the easily digestible grains, 
fruits, and milk, foods which are perfectly adapted to 
the digestive organs of a child ; and if the dietary is 
restricted to the use of these articles, most of the 
derangements of the digestive organs to which children 
are so often subject, could be avoided. The use of 
spices, pepper, mustard, vinegar, cloves, etc., is wholly 
uncalled for by a healthy taste, and may operate in the 
strongest possible manner to create an artificial craving 
which demands an excess of food, and produces, at an 
early age, conditions which ultimately result in dyspepsia 
and various physical disorders of a serious character. 

The habit of eating between meals, so common 
among little boys, cannot be too strongly condemned. 
Such irregularities are not the result of a healthy 
appetite, but of a morbid craving, which frequently 
arises from a disordered stomach, and which requires 
attention, but not gratification. " 

American boys undoubtedly suffer far more than 
those of any other land from the disregard of these facts. 
The peasant boy of Italy, G-ermany, France, or even 
England, is satisfied with the very simplest, and often 
the most meager fare. The Scotch boy eats his bowl of 
brose, or oatmeal gruel, with a far keener relish than the 
American boy finds in the highly seasoned viands, the 
rich cakes, savory pies, and tempting tidbits which his 
mother, in her mistaken fondness, prepares for him. 
The Italian boy finds vastly more satisfaction from his 
meal of boiled or roasted chestnuts, than the American 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 83 

boy obtains from the rich and savory dishes so common 
on American tables. 

How often do we hear little boys say, when food is 
offered them, " I do n't like this," or, " I can't eat that." 
Such remarks are a pretty sure indication that bad 
habits in eating are already formed, and that such a child 
may be benefited by going without food until he obtains 
a relish for wholesome and simple fare. 

Confiding in Parents. — Parents should take pains 
to get acquainted with their boys. Often have we 
known of instances in which boys have grown from 
infancy to manhood without having really become ac- 
quainted with their parents, and their parents were 
equally unacquainted with them. Parents ought to 
encourage a disposition in their boys to confide in them 
in early infancy, so that they may become acquainted 
with their childish griefs and trials, and know their 
hopes and aspirations, and be prepared to direct their 
minds in safe and wholesome channels. Such an ac- 
quaintance will enable parents to supply those higher 
wants of their children which are quite as essential to 
their well-being as proper food, clothing, and shelter. 
It will aid them in providing suitable food for their 
higher natures. 

Make Home Attractive. — Parents ought to consider 
it a part of their duty to satisfy the love of the beautiful 
in their children, as well as to satisfy their hunger. To 
this end their aim, so far as consistent with their means, 
should be to render beautiful, by tasteful, even though 
they may be simple and inexpensive, decorations of the 
dwelling and its surroundings. Useful and entertaining 
books should be supplied, as the child advances in 



84 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

years. The home should be made so attractive and home 
influences so strong that no influence beyond the do- 
mestic circle will be sufficiently powerful to neutralize 
or destroy it. Thousands of boys are led into the broad 
way of vice and sin who might have been saved to virtue 
and usefulness, if the home had been attractive, instead 
of being dull and uninteresting, or absolutely repulsive, 
as is too often the case. 

Special Dangers to Boys. — Thousands of pitfalls 
lie along the road which leads from boyhood up to man- 
hood. Fortunate indeed is the lad who keeps so close 
along the strait and narrow path of right doing as to 
avoid them all. One of the first of the evil habits into 
which boys are apt to fall is that of disrespect to 
parents. It is so easy to disobey the commands of 
father and mother, when they are not at hand to en- 
force them, or when the disobedience may not be dis- 
covered by them; and by and by, especially if the 
kind-hearted parent fails to administer a proper rebuke 
or punishment, the child comes to disregard altogether 
his obligation to obedience. Such a lad is already ad- 
vanced far on the road to ruin, and nothing is wanting 
but opportunity and favorable circumstances to lead him 
to the commission of almost any sin. Parents cannot 
do their children any greater wrong than by neglect to 
exact of them prompt and explicit obedience to their 
commands. 

A wise parent will of course avoid demanding Ox a 
child that which is unreasonable, or which may with 
reason appear to the child to be an act of tyranny or a dis- 
regard of its rights. Such a course will destroy the 
respect of a child, and counteract the effect of any 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 85 

amount of exhortation or even punishment. Most un- 
happy is the home in which an unruly child holds the 
reins. We have seen some such homes, in which 
fathers, mothers, elder brothers and sisters were all in 
thorough subjection to the petty whims of an infant 
tyrant, who had been foolishly indulged and petted in 
his perverseness until he had come to be an autocrat of 
the domestic circle. 

Eigh-Headedness. — Some years ago, the writer 
was present at a large religious gathering at which a 
great sensation was produced by a speaker who arose, 
and, in most impressive tones, exclaimed, " It is a terrible 
thing for a man to have his own way." As the words 
were repeated several times, each time with renewed 
emphasis, the immense audience fairly trembled at the 
thought of the dire consequences which may result to 
the man who gives himself up to doing as he pleases. 
Terrible indeed is it for a man to have his own way, 
but tenfold more terrible for a , child to have his own 
way, to follow his inclinations without restraint, to 
know no law but the demands of his own depraved 
nature and undisciplined will. 

The parent who allows his boy to grow up 
willful, headstrong, undisciplined, and neglectful of the 
rights and wishes of others, and his obligations to law, 
human and divine, should not charge his misfortunes 
to Providence if such a son brings down his gray hairs 
with sorrow to the grave. 

Reliability and Genuineness. — Another of the pits 
of evil into which boys are apt to fall, is that of de- 
ception. A little boy, in the absence of the parental 
eye, has been guilty of an act of disobedience. His 



86 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

mother says, " My son, have you disobeyed my com- 
mands ?" Shame and fear of punishment tempt him 
to say, " No ; " and the mother's fondness may lead 
her to neglect to inquire into the matter with suf- 
ficient care to discover the untruth. One falsehood 
prepares the way for another, until by and by the love 
of truth, honesty, and sincerity is totally destroyed, 
and the lad grows up sadly lacking in those qualities 
which fit men for positions of trust and responsibility. 
Such a boy may sometime appear as a defalcating bank 
cashier or president, or a swindling " confidence man." 
Genuineness is a trait of character whose value is price- 
less ; and one of the saddest features of our modern 
times is the growing scarcity of real genuineness, 
thorough honesty, of steadfast sincerity and reliability. 
The boy who hopes to be a noble man, worthy of 
the respect of his fellow-men, and capable of wielding 
a wide and lasting influence in the world, must from his 
earliest boyhood cultivate fidelity, honesty, sincerity, 
truthfulness, and genuineness. 

Profanity. — Close upon the heels of the evils al- 
ready mentioned, which ruin the character and useful- 
ness of so many boys, comes that most absurd and 
unaccountable of vices — profanity. Nothing is more 
shocking than to hear, when walking along the street, 
most terrible oaths, lisped by lips that are too young to 
speak distinctly, but already familiar with the vile 
language of the street. What can we hope of such a 
boy, but that he will develop in due time into a criminal 
of the deepest dye, and graduate from the school of vice 
into some prison or reformatory, at an early age ? 

Vieious Habits. — One who has an opportunity to 



FROM BOYHOOD UP. 87 

see many of the boys of the present generation, often 
says to himself, " Whence will come the men to fill the 
positions of trust and influence twenty years hence ? " 
Vicious tendencies seem to have taken possession of by 
far the greater share of all the boys we meet. The 
cigar, the cigarette, and the filthy quid claim them as 
their votaries at an early age. Often have we seen, in 
large cities, ragged little urchins, scarcely old enough to 
walk, picking out of the filth the short stumps of cigars 
cast away by old devotees of the weed, and enjoy- 
ing them with apparently as keen a relish as the 
most experienced smoker. The tobacco-using boy soon 
learns to drink beer and ale, from which it is an easy 
step to strong liquors and drunkenness. 

Worse Vices. — These bad habits and vices are 
usually accompanied, if not preceded, by others even 
more debasing in their effects upon the mind, and more 
destructive to the body. Practices too vile to be even 
mentioned in these pages are common enough among 
boys addicted to the vices named, and often among those 
whom we least suspect of vicious tendencies of any sort. 
The company of bad boys, — boys who indulge in obscene 
and filthy talk, should be shunned as carefully as though 
they were afflicted with some loathsome and contagious 
disease. No physical disease is more contagious than 
habits of mental and physical un cleanliness. Fearful 
indeed is the extent of such habits among the boys of 
the present generation, including all classes, even the 
little toddlers of the nursery, to whom the most horrible 
practices are taught by vile associates and wicked 
nurses. Impurity in thought or act is one of the most 
universal of vices among boys. At the present time, 



88 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

scarcely a school-boy can be found so young that he has 
not already been instructed in sensuality. 

One of the most evident duties of parents to their 
boys is to instruct them regarding the wickedness and 
the dangers of vice, and to carefully guard them from 
the contamination of evil associates. 

A boy whose instincts are pure, will flee from the 
first suggestion of obscenity or vileness, and will avoid 
those known to be abandoned to sin as carefully as he 
would avoid a loathsome disease or a poisonous reptile. 
Happy indeed is the lad who grows to manhood un- 
scathed by the scorching flames of sensual vice, and 
with a mind unstained by filthy imaginings and mental 
impurity. 




Kkgl 




Fig. 3. 



PLATE X. — Home Gymnasium Apparatus. 



How to Be Strong. 




MONGr the ancient Greeks and Romans, 
strength and symmetry of body were held in 
highest esteem. Not infrequently, men were 
chosen to fill the highest positions of author- 
ity and influence, when the chief qualifica- 
tion which they possessed was unusual phys- 
ical proportions and bodily strength. A 
Roman emperor, while on one of his expedi- 
tions, discovered a gigantic barbarian, whom 
he made one of his generals, and who after 
ward became himself ruler of the empire. It was nai> 
ural that the ancients should esteem physical strength 
so highly, as in warfare the failure or success of an army 
depended upon the ability and endurance of its soldiers 
in personal combat. The invention of the fire-arms and 
artillery of modern times has entirely changed the mode 
of warfare, so that at the present time the size of a com- 
mander's guns and the length of his purse is of even 
greater consequence than the number of his soldiers. 

Decline of Physical Culture. — So, also, the applica- 
tion of machinery to agriculture and to almost all the 
arts, has greatly diminished the necessity for physical 
exercise in nearly every branch of human industry, and 
to such a degree that there is comparatively little de- 

[89] 



90 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

mand for mere brute force, and physical development 
has come to be considered a matter of little consequence. 
The decline of physical culture has undoubtedly had 
much to do with the loss of that symmetry of form 
which obtained its perfection among the ancient Greeks, 
as shown in the Apollo, the Venus of Milo and other 
specimens of ancient Greek art. 

The modern sculptor who wishes to produce even an 
approximation to the standard of excellence presented 
in the ancient models, finds himself quite unable to 
secure a living model suitable for his purpose, but must 
make a composite figure by combining the parts of a 
large number of different subjects, drawing a leg of one, 
an arm of another, a neck of another, etc. 

This degenerative process is rapidly developing a 
race of deformed and decrepit human beings, who are so 
different from their ancestors of two or three thousand 
years ago that they might almost pass for a different 
species. Each generation seems a little weaker, phys- 
ically, than the one that preceded it; and the puny, 
pale-faced boys of to-day, with lank, feeble bodies, 
active but unbalanced brains, irritable nerves, and pre- 
cocious propensities, make a poor outlook for the gener- 
ation to come. 

Strong Muscles Win. — Notwithstanding the great 
and essential difference between the conditions of mod- 
ern life as compared with the life of the Greek or 
Roman citizen of two thousand years ago, it is still 
true that the man of physical strength and soundness is 
the one who, other conditions being equal, wins the 
prizes in almost every department of human life. Not- 
withstanding the many apparent exceptions to this rule, 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 91 

such well-known examples as those of the English 
premier, Gladstone, M. Thiers, Victor Hugo, William 
Cullen Bryant, and others equally notable whom we 
might name, are sufficient to establish the principle. 

Physical development is only to be obtained as the 
result of exercise. Throughout the whole animal world, 
exercise seems to be essential to growth and develop- 
ment. It is a universal rule in nature that an organ 
which is not used, gradually wastes away until it becomes 
useless, and sometimes disappears altogether; while an 
organ that is used, develops in proportion to the amount 
of work required of it. Even the storm-beaten oak 
gains firmness and strength and increased vigor by the 
shakings it receives from the tempests and tornadoes 
which howl through its branches. Each time its massive 
trunk is swayed, its rootlets strike deeper down into the 
earth, thus not only securing a firmer hold, but providing 
an increased number of mouthlets through which nutri- 
ment may be received from the soil. 

Effects of Exercise and Inaction. — The blacksmith 
with his right arm swings a heavy hammer, while with 
his left he holds with a pair of tongs a heated iron, which 
he beats upon the anvil. In the course of a day, many 
thousands of vigorous blows are struck. This enormous 
amount of work performed by the right arm causes its 
muscles to grow much larger than those of the left, 
which are little if at all larger than those of men engaged 
in ordinary occupations. 

Notice, on the other hand, the effect of inaction upon 
the arm of the Hindoo devotee, which he supports in a 
horizontal position, and consecrates to his deity, keeping 
it absolutely motionless for years. In consequence of 



92 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

this inaction, it gradually shrivels up until it becomes a 
mere stick, simply bone covered with skin, the muscles 
having entirely wasted away. 

We depend upon continued daily exercise for the 
ease with which we move about. If the hand is hung 
up in a sling for a few days, the whole arm speedily be- 
comes almost useless. On removal of the sling, even after 
so short a time as one week, the elbow will be found to be 
stiff, and the muscles stiff and rigid, and any attempt to 
move the arm painful. We frequently find the muscles 
of the body in the same condition as that of such an arm 
when we undertake to make some unusual movement, 
such as bending backward or side wise. We discover 
that the muscles newly called into action are surprisingly 
weak, and that their use, even for a short time, may be 
followed by soreness and discomfort for many days. 
When little or no exercise is taken, the whole body 
speedily falls into the same condition of feebleness and 
uselessness. 

A person who for any reason is confined to his bed 
for a number of days, quickly discovers this when he 
first stands upon his feet, or undertakes to engage in the 
ordinary exercises to which he has been accustomed. 
He finds immediately, on assuming a perpendicular posi- 
tion, a strange weakness in his legs, perhaps a slight 
light-headedness due to a sudden flow of blood to the 
lower portions of the body, leaving an insufficient supply 
in the brain. Perhaps the limbs will tingle with the 
increased quantity of blood sent into them, while palpita- 
tion may lead the patient to fear that he is suffering 
with some grave trouble of the heart, which has been 
heretofore undiscovered. If such a person returns to 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 93 

bed, as is not infrequently the case, and waits for strength 
to come to him, he will grow weaker and weaker contin- 
ually, until he may become permanently helpless. We 
have frequently had such cases brought to us for treat- 
ment, sometimes on beds, from long distances. In some 
instances the individuals had been confined to their beds 
for eight or ten years, during which time they had 
scarcely taken a single step. Careful investigation of 
each case showed it to be one in which the chief fault 
was weakness of the muscular system, the result of dis- 
use. By a properly graduated course of exercises, the 
muscular power was gradually recovered, and the patient 
was restored to usefulness. 

It is in cases of this sort that the so-called " magnetic 
healers," "mind healers," etc., so frequently obtain 
brilliant results. Recognizing a case to be of the sort 
described, they profess to perform some curative act for 
the benefit of the patient, thereby inspiring his con- 
fidence, and arousing his hope and expectancy to the 
highest degree, and succeed in getting him upon his 
feet ; and, each time gaining a little strength, the muscles 
are soon restored so as to enable the operator to pro- 
nounce the patient cured. 

Benefits to be Derived from Exercise. — Exercise is 
beneficial in a variety of ways. 

1. As we have already seen, it develops the muscles. 
The muscles, as we have elsewhere learned, are composed 
of very minute fibres, each of which has the power to 
contract. In a muscle which is not used, these fibres 
become thin and pale, and lose, to a large degree, their 
power of contracting . In a well-developed muscle, they 
are large and ruddy, and possessed of a high degree of 



94 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

elasticity and energy. When a thin, feeble muscle is 
thrown into action by contraction, it soon loses its pale 
color, and acquires a deep red color, through the 
increased quantity of blood which flows through it during 
its activity. The supply of fresh blood brings with it 
new nourishment, from which the fibres may replenish 
themselves. If the exercise is repeated sufficiently 
often to bring to the muscle an adequate amount of 
nourishment, the growth may continue until a very 
unusual degree of development has been attained. 

The famous Dr. Winship, by persistent, systematic 
exercise, succeeded in developing his muscles to such a 
degree that he became able to lift, by the aid of shoulder 
straps, fully three thousand pounds, — a load which the 
stoutest cart-horse could scarcely stand up under. In 
his youth, Dr. Winship was so inferior in physical 
development that, when a student at school, he was 
obliged to bear patiently most provoking insults from 
his school-mates, because unable to make a good physical 
defense. He himself said that it was this fact which 
gave to him the impulse to undertake the course of 
physical culture which resulted in his extraordinary 
development. 

2. A good set of muscles is one of the most excellent 
qualifications which a young man can possess. There is 
no position in life for which they unfit him, and there is 
none which they will not enable him to fill to better 
advantage than he otherwise could do. There are a 
thousand and one emergencies in life in which strong, 
vigorous, and well-trained muscles are of enormous 
service, and in which their use may be of incalculable 
value. Proper physical culture gives, not only increased 




PLATE XI. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 95 

physical strength, but greater dexterity, suppleness, 
and grace of movement. The man who walks with a 
shuffling, swaying, and awkward gait, does so, not on 
account of any original defect in his physical make-up, 
but through the weakness of certain muscles which, by 
disuse, have become unable to do their part in the act 
of walking, and so render him unable to perform it in an 
easy and graceful manner. The trained gymnast ex-, 
hibits a lightness and elasticity of movement impossible 
to an individual who has not had the benefit of physical 
training. 

3. Proper training of the muscles also prevents or 
corrects various bodily deformities, such as round shoul- 
ders, flat and narrow chests, and crooked backs, and gives 
to the body an erect and graceful carriage. Many of 
these deformities are directly or indirectly productive of 
interference of the body in general through interference 
with the proper working of the various vital organs, 
particularly the lungs ; and hence physical culture does 
more than simply add to the comeliness of the body and 
grace of movement ; it really increases the vital capabil- 
ity of the body, and hence lengthens life, as well as 
rendering it more joyous. 

4. Muscular exercise not only improves the health 
and strengthens the muscles, but directly and indirectly 
effects in a favorable manner nearly every organ of the 
body. The muscles aid in supporting the various bones 
which compose the skeleton, in their proper positions. 
When the muscles become weak, they relax, and allow 
various portions of the body to drop into uncouth and 
unhealthful positions. It is thus that the shoulders 
become rounded, being allowed to drop forward through 



96 MAX, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

weakness of the muscles which are intended to hold 
them back in position. The ribs, which form the frame- 
work of the chest, not being properly pulled forward 
and outward through contraction of the muscles attached 
to them, gradually fall inward, thus flattening the chest, 
and compressing those important breathing organs, the 
lungs. By proper exercise, these physical defects may 
be prevented, and entirely remedied in most persons 
who have not yet attained middle age. Even in advanced 
years, much may be done to correct these physical 
deformities, by properly directed and systematic efforts. 

5. Still more remarkable is the effect of exercise 
upon the activities of various internal organs. The 
effect of muscular exercise in increasing the action of 
the heart and lungs is well known. A brisk run will 
often double the activity of the heart, and much more 
than double the activity of the lungs. Although the 
number of respirations per minute may be only double 
in number, the depth of inspiration, the amount of air 
taken in at each breath, is also greatly increased, so that 
the total amount of work done by the lungs is very 
much more than doubled. This increased activity of 
the lungs produces a wonderfully beneficial effect upon 
the whole body. 

The heart is a pump which distributes to the tissues 
the vital fluid by which it is to be replenished. When 
the heart works more rapidly and vigorously, a larger 
amount of blood is furnished to every organ in the body, 
and the tissues are consequently more liberally supplied 
with nutriment, and more thoroughly renovated. 

Not only is a larger amount of new material carried 
to the tissues, but the old worn-out waste particles are 




PLATE XII. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 97 

removed much more thoroughly, being carried to the 
organs whose business it is to remove them from the 
body as they are eliminated, or thrown off. Thus the 
body is kept freer from the waste or effete matter which 
results from the wear and tear of the system. 

The lungs, by their increased activity, introduce 
into the blood and veins of the whole system a larger 
quantity of oxygen, the great purifier, which vivifies the 
blood, vitalizes the tissues, and cleanses every nook and 
corner of the vital domain. Every activity is quickened. 
The whole system is infused with a higher grade of 
vitality. The bodily machinery runs at a higher speed, 
and with greater effectiveness for work. The brain, 
freer from the products of waste, and supplied with more 
highly vitalized blood, is able to do better thinking. 
The liver, having a larger amount of oxygen and a better 
blood supply, can do more bile-making. The stomach, 
having its activities quickened by a larger and richer 
blood supply, secretes a better quality of gastric juice, 
and more of it, and hence is able to digest a larger quan- 
tity of food, and to more perfectly elaborate it and pre- 
pare it for entrance into the blood. The demand for a 
larger quantity of food creates a better appetite and a 
keener relish for food. Thus, every part of the body 
seems to take on new life and activity ; and, to a person 
who has previously been in a state of inaction, with his 
system torpid and clogged by the products of wastes 
which have not been properly eliminated, the change is 
almost equivalent to a new birth. After having once 
tasted of the delights of living on a higher plane, with 
all his sensibilities quickened, and his ability for enjoy- 
ment and appreciation of the pleasures and blessings of 
7 



98 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

life so greatly increased, one could hardly be induced at 
any price to return to the old sluggish and inane exist- 
ence. 

6. In these days of hurry and bustle, when a 
moment gained or lost may mean the loss or gain of a 
fortune, or even of a human life, the possession of a 
good " wind," which will support brief, or, if necessary, 
prolonged active muscular exercise, as in hurrying to 
catch a train, running to a fire, or to rescue a person in 
danger, is a matter of inestimable value. Two things 
are essential for a good wind : (a.) A sound and vigor- 
ous heart; (b.) Large and strong lungs. If either of 
these organs is deficient, a person, on trying to take a 
little more active exercise than usual, will speedily find 
himself " short of breath." The heart is a muscle, and 
the lungs are filled and emptied by means of muscles, 
which act upon the chest in such a way as to use it like 
a pair of bellows, alternately compressing and expand- 
ing its walls so as to make the air pass out and in. 
Muscular exercise causes the heart to beat faster, and 
by this means strengthens it, just as the other muscles 
of the body are strengthened. By special exercise, the 
muscles which operate the chest may be strengthened, 
and the chest itself may be enlarged so that it will 
receive an increased quantity of air, and will have greater 
freedom of movement in the act of breathing. 

A Good Wind. — Soundness of wind is one of the 
essential qualifications for a good walker or a good horse- 
man ; and it is for the purpose of securing this reliability 
of the heart and lungs that the long course of training to 
which persons who are preparing themselves for pedes- 
trian or rowing contests, are subjected, is entered upon. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 99 

Time is required to enable the heart to grow large and 
strong enough to do the necessary amount of work re- 
quired of it during the contest, and to allow the lungs to 
expand to such a capacity as to supply the greatly 
increased quantity of oxygen required. 

Danger from a Weak Heart. — Every now and then 
we read in the newspapers of a man who has dropped 
dead in hurrying to catch a train. Such an occurrence is 
the result of a weakness of the heart, arising from the 
want of proper training to enable i f to support the activ- 
ity of the other muscles of the body. The heart ought 
to be able to do its work as well as the other muscles, 
and should be capable of doing it well, even when the 
other portions of the muscular system are excited to the 
highest degree of activity. 

' A person who is not accustomed to exercise, finds 
almost immediately, on attempting to take a little ex- 
ercise, that the blood rushes to his head. He is seized 
with a violent beating of the heart, and feels as though 
he was in eminent danger of death. All these in- 
conveniences, however, speedily disappear under sys- 
tematic exercise, gradually increasing its vigor as 
the heart and blood-vessels acquire greater tone, so 
that they are not so readily disturbed by muscular 
efforts. 

How to Test the Heart. — If you feel the pulse of 
a person not accustomed to exercise, while he is sit- 
ting quietly, and then ask him to run quickly up and down 
the stairs two or three times, and count his pulse 
again, it will be found to have increased in frequency 
anywhere from thirty to fifty beats per minute ; while 
the pulse of a person accustomed to vigorous exercise, 



100 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

counted after the same amount of exercise, may not 
have increased more than ten to fifteen beats per 
minute. 

By these simple means, any one may test his heart- 
strength, and while taking a course of muscular train- 
ing, may discover the gradual increase in heart tone, 
as indicated by the lessened effect of exercise in in- 
creasing the pulse rate. 

Probably more than half the business men of the 
country who have reached middle age, could not run 
rapidly for a mile without incurring considerable risk, 
and certainly not without feeling afterward badly used 
up. Every man ought to be able to run two or three 
miles at the rate of eight miles an hour, without suf- 
fering any serious inconvenience. 

7. Physical exercise gives better command of the 
whole body ; and when properly conducted, trains both 
sides of the body alike, and so almost doubles the 
efficiency of the muscles. A man who has been trained 
in the ordinary way, really uses his left side but very 
little. Everything requiring skill, strength, or dexterity 
must be done with the right hand. Even the right 
limb usually has enough more training to make it a 
little larger than the left. The extra amount of work 
done by the right side of the body results in increas- 
ing the strength of the muscles of this side, and in 
deformity of the spine, which is made to curve toward the 
left side, causing the right shoulder to drop a little. 
There is probably not more than one person in four 
who does not have this deformity. 

With proper physical training, both sides of the 
body will be equally developed, and should be equally 





PLATE XIII. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 101 

useful. A man who is ambidextrous, or able to use both 
hands equally well, will not only be able to do more 
work in a day or in a year than a man who can employ 
but one hand, but in the case of the loss of one hand, 
he does not meet with so utter and complete a loss as 
the man who loses his one trained hand. 

8. Even the brain and nerves share in the benefits 
derived from muscular training. When a muscle con- 
tracts, it is in obedience to the impulses originated in 
the brain, sent to the muscles along a nerve trunk. 
Hence, muscular exercise also implies exercise of the 
brain and nerves. The same law which induces mus- 
cular growth as the result of exercise, applies also to 
the exercise of the brain and nerves. Hence, muscular 
exercise, instead of detracting from mental develop- 
ment, as might be supposed, actually encourages the 
development of the brain, and increases its capacity for 
action. This is undoubtedly the reason why muscular 
exercise has so marked an effect in steadying the 
nerves, giving to one self-command, mental equipoise, 
and readiness. Nothing so well prepares one for readiness 
of action in emergencies as thorough training of the 
muscles. 

9. The derivative effect of muscular exerciser renders 
it one of the most efficient means of counteracting the 
effect of laborious mental occupation and such employ- 
ments as are likely to cause an excessive flow of blood 
to the brain. When the muscles are active, they are 
capable of containing a much larger proportion of blood 
than when idle, and thus drain it away from the brain and 
nerve centers, which, through excessive and prolonged 
activity, may have become congested and surcharged 



102 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

with blood. On this account, regular, systematic ex- 
ercise is of the greatest value to students and to pro- 
fessional men. Thousands of men break down before 
completing their education, or just after graduation ; and 
thousands of clergymen, lawyers, professors, and other 
brain workers, make disastrous failures in consequence 
of the onset of some nervous disorder, which might have 
been entirely prevented if the brain and nerve centers 
had been cooled and rested by regular systematic ex- 
ercise. 

10. Another of the valuable benefits to be derived 
from muscular exercise is to be found in its effects upon 
those portions of the nervous system which control the 
purely animal functions. An individual whose brain 
is excited and irritated by too much blood, the result of 
excessive brain work or worry, is vastly more likely to 
become a prey to the torments of propensities or pas- 
sions clamoring for gratification, than he who, by active 
muscular exercise,- relieves the brain of blood, thereby 
producing that gentle fatigue which is so conducive to 
rest and calmness of mind and body and soundness of 
sleep. 

It is a noticeable fact that many wandering barbarous 
tribes, who depend for their sustenance upon the un- 
certain results of the chase and meager vegetable prod- 
ucts, are vastly less addicted to gross vices, even 
though their food is largely of an animal character, than 
are more civilized people, whose mode of life requires of 
them less muscular exercise. This fact alone emphasizes 
the importance of encouraging muscular exercise among 
the youth of the present day, since the growing tendency 
to vice and licentiousness among all civilized people is 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 103 

one of the most conspicuous and lamentable features of 
the present time. 

General Rules for Exereise. — 1. Exercise, to be 
really valuable, must be systematic ; that is, it must be 
taken in such a way as to bring into play all the muscles 
of the body in a natural and symmetrical manner, or, in 
case the exercise is taken to correct deformities or 
special weaknesses, it should be such as will be best 
calculated to accomplish the desired end. 

2. It must be taken regularly. The way most 
business men take their exercise, going off on a hunting 
expedition once a year for one or two weeks, or now and 
then taking a very long walk or a tiresome rowing 
excursion, is not calculated to strengthen the muscles, 
but rather to make them sore and stiff, and to discourage 
efforts in this direction. 

Exercise should be taken daily. The system re- 
quires its daily dose of muscular exercise as much as its 
daily portion of food ; and it would be quite as sensible 
to undertake to do a month's eating in a single day as 
to take all of one's exercise for a month on a monthly 
holiday. Hence, exercise should be taken daily, and if 
possible, at a regular hour. 

3. The best time for taking exercise is about ten 
o'clock in the forenoon ; but for an ordinary individual, 
the best time is at such an hour as will enable him to 
take it at the same time every day, thereby allowing 
the system to accustom itself to periodical muscular 
work, and so acquire the greatest amount of benefit 
from it. As a rule, especially with weak persons, a 
large amount of exercise should not be taken before 
breakfast. Persons who have a weak digestion, often 



104 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

suffer ill effects from taking long walks before breakfast, 
becoming so " faint " that the relish for food is lessened 
as well as the power to digest it. . For those who have 
active duties requiring their attention during the usual 
business hours, exercise may be divided between morn- 
ing and evening ; as half an hour before breakfast and 
an equal length of time before going to bed. 

4. The amount of exercise should be such as will 
produce genuine fatigue. At the beginning, the exercise 
should be taken very moderately indeed, and the person 
should stop short of complete exhaustion. Weak mus- 
cles, in particular, should be exercised with very great 
care. Many persons become discouraged in their efforts 
in the direction of physical culture by attempting to do 
too much at first. In consequence of very violent 
exercise, the muscles are made sore and stiff, and they 
become discouraged, and give up the attempt in disgust. 

At no time, during a course of physical training, 
should the exercises be so violent as to be exhausting ; 
but they should be so gradually increased that the 
heaviest exercise at the last will be no more .taxing 
than the very lightest at the beginning. This requires 
that the amount of muscular work done should be so 
carefully graduated that the muscles will have time to 
develop increased capacity as the work is increased. 

A story is told of an ancient Roman who developed 
enormous strength by placing upon his shoulder a young 
calf, and carrying it around the ring of a great amphi- 
theater. This he did each day ; and as the calf grew in 
size, his strength increased proportionately, until at last 
he was able to shoulder the full-grown ox, and carry it 
about the great arena with almost as much ease as he 
had at first carried the animal when but a few days old. 




PLATE XIV. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 105 

5. Much greater benefit is derived from light exer- 
cises repeated many times, than very violent exercises 
repeated but a few times, or engaged in only for a brief 
length of time. By lifting heavy weights, or indulging 
in such exercises as are too heavy for the muscles, they 
may be strained and even permanently injured ; while 
by the employment of light exercises, though the body 
becomes fatigued, no such mishaps can possibly occur, 
and no permanent injury will be likely to be done. 

Illustrious Examples. — Conspicuous examples of 
the benefits to be derived from systematic daily exercise 
are afforded by a number of eminent men of modern 
times, some of whom have already been mentioned. 

Gladstone as a Wood-Chopper. — Gladstone, for ex- 
ample, is almost as famous for his fondness for, and dex- 
terity in, chopping wood, as for his skill in diplomacy. 
Though he is upwards of eighty years of age, the venera- 
ble statesman continues as active as ever, and the quality 
of his speeches in the House of Commons shows not the 
slightest sign of physical or mental deterioration. When 
worn out with the labor and care of political life at Lon- 
don, he runs away to his home in the country, and spends 
a few days in hewing down the giant oaks for which the 
place is famous. 

Dickens as a Pedestrian. — Dickens was almost as 
noted as a pedestrian as he was distinguished as a novel- 
ist. His daily habit was to walk nine or ten miles before 
breakfast, and he sometimes prolonged his walk to twen- 
ty-five or thirty miles before taking his morning meal. 
If he had not been given to great excesses in eating, it 
is probable that he might have prolonged his active liter- 
ary life many years ; but he was cut otf at an age when 
most men of science are doing their best work. 



106 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Byron, though addicted to many vices, and even to 
the grossest dissipation, was a most faithful observer of 
the laws of health which relate to physical exercise, 
taking habitually a daily run into the country, and en- 
gaging in rowing, swimming, and other active physical 
exercises. He carried his physical training to such a 
degree of perfection that he was able to accomplish some 
feats in swimming which have rarely been equaled. It 
is quite probable that his attention to physical exercise, 
together with his habitual abstemiousness in diet, at least 
during long periods, enabled him to resist so long as he 
did the evil influence of the enormous excesses to which 
he was addicted. 

Maclaren, the English apostle of physical education, 
in his excellent work on the subject, gives several illus- 
trations of the remarkable effects of exercise in modify- 
ing the development of the body, a few of which we 
quote : — 

" Twelve non-commissioned officers, ranging in age 
from nineteen to twenty-nine years, were sent to me for 
training. I made careful measurements of the chest, 
arms, shoulders, limbs, etc., and repeated the measure- 
ments at intervals throughout the course of training, to 
ascertain the amount of progress made." He states the 
result as follows : — 

" The muscular additions to the arms and shoulders 
and the expansion of the chest were so great as to have 
absolutely a ludicrous and embarrassing result ; for before 
the fourth month, several of the men could not get into 
their uniforms, jackets, and tunics without assistance, 
and when they got them on, they could not get them to 
meet down the middle by a hand's breadth. In a month 



ROW TO BE STRONG. 107 

more they could not get into them at all, and new cloth- 
ing had to be procured, pending the arrival of which the 
men had to go to and from the Gymnasium in their great- 
coats. One of these men had gained five inches in actual 
girth of chest. Now, who shall tell the value of these 
five inches of chest, — five inches of additional space for 
the heart and lungs to work in ? There is no computing 
its value, no power of computing it at all ; and before 
such an addition as this could be made to this part of the 
body, the whole frame must have received a proportionate 
gain. For the exercises of the system are addressed to 
the whole body, and to the whole body equally ; and 
before this addition could be made to the chest, every 
spot and point of the frame must have been improved, 
every organ within the body must have been propor- 
tionately strengthened. 

" But I tried another method of recording the re- 
sults of the exercises. I had these men photographed, 
naked to the waist, shortly after the beginning of the 
course and again at its close, and the change in all,, 
even in these small portraits, is very distinct, and most 
notably so in the youngest, a youth of nineteen, and, as 
I had anticipated in him, not merely in the acquisi- 
tion of muscle, but in a re-adjustment and expansion 
of the osseous frame-work upon which the muscles 
are distributed. 

" But there was one change, the greatest of all, and 
to which all other changes are but means to an end, 
are but evidences more or less distinct that this end has 
been accomplished, — a change which I could not record, 
which can never be recorded, but which was to me, 
and to all who had ever seen the men, most impressively 



108 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

evident; and that was the change in bodily activity, 
dexterity, presence of mind, and endurance of fatigue, 
— a change a hundred-fold more impressive than any- 
thing the tape-measure or the weighing chair can ever 
reveal." 

Exercise Encourages Growth. — The same eminent 
authority also gives the following illustrations of the 
effect of exercise in stimulating growth : — 

"A remarkable instance of this came under my 
observation a few years ago. A youth whose growth 
had for some time been stationary at the hight of five 
feet two and three-eighths inches, suddenly, from the 
practice of systematized exercise, began to grow at a 
fair and regular rate, and at the age of twenty-one, 
when he went to India, his hight was five feet six 
and a fourth inches. Another instance is that of a 
school-boy whose growth had been all but arrested 
from a severe fall in childhood. Almost instantly, sys- 
tematized exercise started his latent powers of growth, 
and in nine months he had grown eight and seven-eighths 
inches. 

The eminent poet, William Cullen Bryant, who died 
a few years since at the advanced age of eighty-four 
years, preserved his wonderful physical and mental 
vigor to the very last, by a system of regular phys- 
ical exercise, which he thus described in a letter to 
Mr. Joseph H. Richards, a few years before his death, 
and which was published after his decease : — 

" My dear Sir, — I promised some time since to give 
you some account of my habits of life, so far, at least, 
as regards diet, exercise, and occupation. I am not 
sure that it will be of any use to you, although the 




PLATE XV. 



HOW TO BE STBONG. 109 

system which I have for many years observed seems 
to answer my purpose very well. I have reached a 
pretty advanced period of life, without the usual infirm- 
ities of old age, and with my strength, activity, and 
bodily faculties generally, in pretty good preservation. 
How far this may be the effect of my way of life, 
adopted long ago and steadily adhered to, is per- 
haps uncertain. 

" I rise early, at this time of the year about half- 
past five ; in summer, half an hour, or even an hour 
earlier. Immediately, with very little encumbrance of 
clothing, I begin a series of exercises, for the most part 
designed to expand the chest, and at the same time 
call into action all the muscles and articulations of 
the body. These are performed with dumb-bells, the 
very lightest, and covered with flannel, with a pole, a 
horizontal bar, and a light chair swung around my 
head. After a full hour, and sometimes more, passed 
in this manner, I bathe from head to foot. When at 
my place in the country, I sometimes shorten my ex- 
ercises in the chamber, and, going out, occupy myself 
for half an hour or more in some work which requires 
brisk exercise. After my bath, if breakfast is not 
ready, I sit down to my studies till I am called. * * * 

" After breakfast, I occupy myself for awhile with 
my studies, and then, when in town, I walk down to 
the office of the Evening Post, nearly three miles distant, 
and after about three hours, return, always walking, 
zuhatever he the weather or the state of the streets. In the 
country, I am engaged in my literary tasks till a feeling 
of weariness drives me out into the open air, and I go 
upon my farm, or into the garden and prune the fruit- 



HO MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

trees, or perform some other work about them which 
they need, and then go back to my books. I do not 
often drive out, preferring to walk." 

A former business associate gave to a newspaper 
representative the following, among other reminis- 
cences of Mr. Bryant, with whom he had been ac- 
quainted forty years : — 

" During the forty years that I have known him, 
Mr. Bryant has never been ill, — never been confined 
to his bed, except on the occasion of his last accident. 
His health has always been good. 

" Mr. Bryant was a great walker. In earlier years, 
he would think nothing of walking to Paterson Falls 
and back, with Alfred Pell and James Lawson, after 
office hours. He always walked from his home to his 
place of business, even in his eighty-fourth year. At 
first he would n't ride in the elevator. He would never 
wait for it, if it was not ready for the ascent immedi- 
ately on his arrival in the building. Of gymnastic exer- 
cises, he was very fond. Every morning, for half an 
hour, he would go through a series of evolutions on the 
backs of two chairs placed side by side. He would hang 
on the door of his bedroom, pulling himself up and down 
an indefinite number of times. He would skirmish 
around the apartment after all fashions, and once, he told 
me, even ' under the table.' Breakfast followed, then a 
walk down town ; and then he was in the best of spirits 
for the writing of his editorial article for that day." 

In view of such facts, where is there a young man of 
energy and intelligence, and for such only we write, 
who is not willing to devote the little time and effort 
required to develop for himself that soundness of body, 



HOW TO BE STBONG. HI 

that suppleness of limb, that hardness of muscle, that 
grace and dignity of carriage, that soundness of diges- 
tion, and that vigor of intellect which can only be ob-. 
tained by regular, systematic, vigorous muscular train- 
ing ? The question may arise, " Will not ordinary labor 
answer the purpose as well as special exercises ? " In 
reply to this question, we have to say, Many kinds of 
labor afford a sufficient amount of bodily exercise to 
secure a good appetite, a vigorous digestion, and many 
other good results of exercise ; but there are very few 
trades which do not, to a greater or less degree, destroy 
the symmetry, if they do not more seriously deform, the 
body. For example, the farmer, from the enormous 
amount of back-work he has to do in stooping forward 
and lifting with a fork and shovel, pulling the rake, 
swinging the scythe, etc., becomes round-shouldered. 
The back muscles become enormously developed, while 
the muscles of the front of the chest are neglected. 
Thus it is that we find so large a proportion of persons 
who are past middle age, presenting round shoulders, 
flat chests, and a backward curvature of the spine. The 
blacksmith develops one arm and one side of the chest 
enormously, but gives so little w T ork to the other that he 
really becomes in time deformed. The oarsman devel- 
ops the muscles of the back and fore-arm, and gives 
to the upper-arm and muscles of the front of the chest 
an insufficient amount of work ; consequently, the shoul- 
ders become pulled forward. The fingers, also, in con- 
tinually clasping the oars, become more or less perma- 
nently crooked and their bones stiffened. The average 
farmer also has an awkward gait, and is slow and awk- 
ward in his movements generally. 



112 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

It thus appears that the laboring man, as well as he 
whose employments are sedentary, requires exercise for 
the purpose of counteracting the deforming tendencies 
of his particular vocation, and for preserving a well- 
balanced development of his body. 

How to Make a Home Gymnasium. — The idea that 
expensive appliances and apparatus, and perhaps a build- 
ing constructed expressly for the purpose, is required to 
enable a person to avail himself of the advantage of 
special exercise, has deterred many from undertaking a 
course of physical training. It is of the utmost impor- 
tance in the interests of physical education that the pub- 
lic mind should be disabused of this erroneous notion. 
The truth is that the most essential and effective forms 
of exercise can be taken by the aid of little or no appa- 
ratus of any description, or at least other than that 
which can be afforded by any home, which are accessible 
to any one under almost all circumstances. However, 
the expenditure of a few dollars and a little labor will 
provide a few simple devices by means of which the 
work may be made more interesting and in some respects 
more effective. Hence, we shall describe a few appli- 
ances which it is desirable that every home should con- 
tain. 

Every home ought to have its family gymnasium, — 
a room set apart for daily exercise, and which may be 
used by the members of the 'family. Such a room 
should contain, — 

1. Apparatus for pulley-weights, which consists of 
a long box set upright against the wall, and divided per- 
pendicularly into two compartments, which are open in 
front. At the top of each compartment is placed a 




PLATE XVI. 



HOW TO BE STMOJSTG. 113 

pulley, over which passes a rope, with one end attached 
to a wooden box about six inches deep and of sufficient 
size to fill the compartment. At the other end of the 
rope is placed a handle to grasp with the hand. Weights 
of different sizes can be put into the box so as to regu- 
late the amount of work done, in pulling them up and 
down. Fig. 2, Plate X., shows an apparatus of this 
sort. 

2. Erect two solid posts about three feet broad. 
Place between the two posts, properly secured at a 
point as high as can be reached by the hand, a round 
bar about one and one-half inches in diameter. The bar 
may easily be made adjustable, so as to accommodate 
persons of different hights. Secure on the inside at a 
point about opposite the waist, a stout round pin about 
one and one-half inches in diameter, projecting from the 
post about eight cr nine inches. A door- way may be 
used instead of the posts, as shown in Fig.' 1, Plate X. 

3. Obtain a sound piece of ash or hickory about 
three inches wide, two inches thick, and six feet in length. 
Place this against the base board at one side of the 
room, and secure one end firmly to the floor. Above 
the free end of the strip, and high enough to be oppo- 
site the breast, fasten to the wall a block about four 
inches square and two inches thick. Obtain a fork han- 
dle about three feet in length. Bore a half-inch hole 
about one-third its length from one end, and pass a bolt 
through the handle into the block. By means of a stout 
rope, attach one end of the round piece to the free end 
of the strip upon the floor. The appearance of this ap- 
paratus, when complete, is shown in outline in Fig. 3, 

Plate X. 

8 



114 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

4. Obtain a dozen iron weights weighing from one 
to ten pounds each. If iron weights cannot be easily 
procured, stone or lead may be employed ; or bags filled 
with salt or sand, with the weight marked upon each, 
may be used instead. 

5. If possible, obtain two or three pair of dumb- 
bells, one pair weighing five pounds each, another weigh- 
ing eight pounds, and still another weighing twelve 
pounds. 

By means of these simple appliances a very large 
proportion of the muscles may be brought into full and 
vigorous action. 

Exercises to Develop Special Parts of the Body, — 
Many persons imagine that it is of very little conse- 
quence what form of exercise is taken, provided a per- 
son takes a sufficient amount to insure activity of the 
circulation, and secure an appetite for food. This is a 
grave error. A man might sit down by the road side, 
and spend ten hours a day breaking stones with a ham- 
mer, as men may often be seen doing on the roadways 
of England, and the active exercise may give him a 
good appetite, sound digestion, and strong muscles in his 
right arm ; but the result would be that the rest of his 
body would, through neglect, become seriously deformed. 
His limbs would become stiff, and his gait feeble and 
awkward, and all symmetry of form and grace of move- 
ment would be lost. 

In order that the body should be properly developed, 
it is important that each individual shall take such spe- 
cial exercises as are particularly adapted to his case, and 
in such amount as the general system, or the organs spe- 
cially involved, may demand. By this means, particular 



ROW TO BE STBONG. 115 

deficiencies or weaknesses may be corrected. To enable 
the reader to appreciate the need of special exercises 
for the purpose named, we have illustrated the text 
with a number of plates, for which we are indebted to 
the admirable work on Physical Education, by Archibald 
Maclaren, of England. The plates represent some of 
the most common errors in development which require 
correction by the proper employment of muscular exer- 
cise. 

Fig. 1, Plate XI., shows the upper part of the 
trunk and arms of a well-developed man. Fig. 2, Plate 
XI., shows a well-developed arm in such a position as 
to exhibit the biceps, or large muscle of the front arm, 
to best advantage. 

Fig. 1, Plate XII., is from a photograph of a young 
man whose muscles were soft, flabby, and undevel- 
oped. Compare the arms and shoulders of this figure 
with those of Fig. 1, Plate XI. Fig. 2, Plate XII., 
gives a back view of a young man with drooping 
shoulders. 

Fig. 1, Plate XIII., shows the effect of neglect of 
exercise in producing distortion of the body, the right 
shoulder being considerably lower than the left, owing 
to the weakness of the left side. Fig. 2, Plate XIII., 
shows curvature of the spine from the same cause. 

Fig. 1, Plate XIV., exhibits the effect of neglecting 
the development of the muscles of the chest and arms, 
producing a flat and hollow chest. Compare this with 
Fig. 1, Plate XI. 

Fig. 2, Plate XIV., gives a back view of a person 
with a hollow chest. 

Fig. 1, Plate XV., gives a side view of a small 



116 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

boy with the peculiar deformity known as " pigeon's 
breast." Fig. 2, Plate XV., shows a front view of 
the same deformity. 

Fig. 1, Plate XVI. , shows the appearance of a 
young man with an imperfectly developed chest. Fig. 
2, Plate XVI., shows the same individual after a few 
months' practice of exercises calculated to develop the 
chest and improve the physique. 

Forms of Exercise. — The limited space which we 
have to devote to this subject will admit only a brief 
description of a few of the simplest and most valuable 
forms of exercise. Fortunately, the most important 
forms of physical exercise can be taken with very little 
apparatus, and are very simple in character. 

Walking. — This simplest of all forms of exercise is 
one in which a large number of the muscles of the body 
are brought into gentle action, in maintaining the erect 
position of the body, and propelling it forward. In 
ordinary walking upon a level surface, the body is not 
lifted, but is inclined forward in such a way as to make 
it necessary for the feet to be advanced, first one and 
then the other, in order to preserve the body from 
falling. (Figs. 1 and 2, Plate XVII.) Walking is a 
valuable form of exercise, but is so gentle in character 
that a large amount must be done, at least several miles 
a day, to constitute a fair amount of exercise. 

Walking, to be beneficial, must be graceful. There 
are very few good walkers, since few persons have an 
equable muscular development, which is necessary for a 
graceful carriage in walking. If the limbs are weak, 
the gait is tottering. If there is weakness of the 
muscles of the waist, the body sways from side to side 




PLATE XVII. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 117 

in walking. Weakness of the muscles of the front of the 
trunk cause the head and shoulders to be thrown 
forward. 

How to Walk. — To walk healthfully, first make the 
body erect by throwing the shoulders well back and the 
chest forward, holding the head erect and drawing the 
chin in a little. This will straighten the muscles of the 
back, and give to the body an erect carriage. Let the 
arms swing easily by the side, with the palms open and 
turned inward. In stepping forward, place the foot 
down firmly, letting the heel touch first, then the toe. 
Avoid a tettering gait by keeping the knees well set 
back. Put vigor and elasticity into the step. At the 
beginning, let the pace be moderate, and the distance 
not greater than can be accomplished without severe 
fatigue. Gradually increase the distance and the speed 
until able to walk four or five miles an hour. The 
amount of exercise obtained in walking may be regulated 
by the speed and distance of the walk. The amount of 
work done may be increased by carrying loads of 
different weights, either in the hands or upon the 
shoulders. 

Running, leaping, and hopping are modifications of 
walking which afford much more vigorous means of ex- 
ercise than ordinary walking. A person who has not 
been accustomed to violent exercise of any sort, should 
carefully avoid an excessive amount of this kind at the 
beginning of practice. In running, the gait should at 
first be very moderate, and the distance traversed short, 
so as to give the heart and lungs opportunity to become 
strong enough to sustain the increased effort required of 
them during this active exercise. The same observation 



118 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

holds good respecting hopping and leaping. The proper 
positions in running are shown in Figs. 3 and 4, 
Plate XV. 

Dumb -Bell Exercises. — The dumb-bell is a very 
useful appliance for exercising the arms. (Fig. 1, 
Plate XVIII.) It was used by the ancient Greeks, who 
gave much attention to exercise of all sorts. Figs. 2, 3, 
Plate XVIII., show the forms of the instrument as em- 
ployed in ancient times. Fig. 4, Plate XVIII., shows a 
form of dumb-bell used by the Chinese. Two systems of 
exercises are employed with dumb-bells, one requiring 
light bells made of wood ; the other, heavy bells made 
of iron. For active and prolonged exercises of the arms, 
wooden bells are to be preferred ; but for exercises in- 
tended to develop particular muscles, iron bells, prop- 
erly adapted to the strength of the individual, are much 
preferable. In the use of iron dumb-bells, the weight 
should at first not exceed one twenty-fifth that of the 
body. It may be increased until at the end of five or 
six months, the weight of each bell is one-tenth that of. 
the body. Thus, a person weighing one hundred and 
twenty-five pounds should, at the beginning, use dumb- 
bells weighing five pounds each, and should gradually 
increase the weight to twelve and one-half pounds. For 
most of the exercises in which dumb-bells are used, bags 
of shot, cobble-stones, or other objects, the weight of 
which has been determined, may be used with equally 
good results, though they are far less convenient. 

Exercises with Dumb-Bells. — The positions of the 
arms in taking some of the various forms of exercise 
may be readily seen by reference to Figs. 1 and 2, Plate 
XIX. That the Chinese were acquainted with this 



HOW TO BE STRONG. H9 

form of calisthenics, may be seen by reference to Fig. 1, 
Plate XX., which the author has copied from a re- 
markable work in the Chinese language that was pub- 
lished in China some hundreds of years ago. For this 
interesting volume the author is indebted to Hon. John 
Freyer, A. M., of Shanghai, China, who discovered it in 
the native book stores of that country. In using bells, 
the following program may be followed : — 

Position : Heels together, knees well set back, shoul- 
ders thrown back, head erect, chest well expanded. 

1. Grasp a bell in each hand (wooden dumb-bells) ; 
bring the hands to the sides, with the palms in front ; 
twist arms half around and back four times, bringing 
hands to the hips with the last movement. 

2. Arms extended at the sides, palms inward ; turn 
bells and return four times. 

3. Arms extended to the front; palms upward; 
turn bells four times. 

4. Arms extended directly up from the shoulders, 
palms front ; turn four times, bringing bells to the chest 
with last movement. 

5. Bells on chest near the shoulders ; thrust right 
hand down to the side and return four times. 

6. Repeat with left arm, keeping the right in posi- 
tion. 

7. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

8. Thrust both hands downward four times. 

9. Bells at armpits. Thrust the right hand down 
to the side four times, keeping the left in position. 

10. Repeat with left hand. 



120 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

11. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

12. Thrust down both hands four times. 

13. Place bells on shoulders. Thrust right hand up 
four times. 

14. Repeat with left hand. 

15. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

16. Thrust both hands upward four times. 

17. Bells at sides, palms inward ; swing each hand 
up to horizontal four times. 

18. Repeat with left hand. 

19. Alternate each twice. 

20. Swing both at once four times. 

21. Hands at sides, palms inward; bring right hand 
up in front to horizontal four times. 

22. Repeat with left hand. 

23. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

24. Swing with both hands four times. 

25. Hands at side, palms inward ; swing each hand 
backward as far as possible four times. 

26. Repeat with left hand. 

27. Alternate with two hands, each twice. 

28. Swing both hands four times. 

29. Arms horizontal, palms inward; swing right 
arm up to perpendicular. 

30. Repeat with left hand. 

31. Alternate with two hands, each twice. 

32. Swing both arms together to perpendicular four 
times. 




PLATE XVIII.— Ancient and Modern Dumb-Bells. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 121 

33. Extend arms in front, palms inward; swing 
each hand up to perpendicular. 

34. Repeat with the left hand four times. 

35. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

36. Swing both hands together four times. 

37. Hands extended in front, palms inward ; swing 
right hand back as far as possible four times. 

38. Repeat with left hand. 

39. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

40. Swing both hands together four times. 

41. Hands at the sides, palms forward ; swing each 
hand to perpendicular four times. 

42. Repeat with left hand. 

43. Alternate the two hands, each twice. 

44. Swing both hands four times. 

Anvil Chorus. — A pleasant variation of the exercise 
with wooden dumb-bells may be made by striking the 
bells together, as indicated in the following program : — 
1. Extend left arm in front, holding the right bell 
touching the shoulder blade back of the head. Strike 
left bell down with the right, allowing the right bell to 
fall in same position as that of the left, bringing the left 
into the position previously occupied by the right. Re- 
peat same with left bell, and thus alternate four times. 

2. Hands at sides; palms outward. Swing arms to 
perpendicular, striking bells together over head four 
times. 

3. Repeat No. 1. 

4. Strike bells in front, then behind, each four times. 

5. Repeat No. 1. 



122 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

6. Extend arms in front. Strike the upper end of 
the left bell with the lower end of the right bell. Re- 
peat with left bell. Alternate thus four times. 

The exercises should be accompanied by counting 
thus : One and, two and, three and, four and; and then 
repeating. The time may be kept by the aid of music, 
which is especially serviceable where several are taking 
the exercises together. Polkas, marches, or any well 
accented instrumental music in two-four or four-four time 
is suitable. 

Numerous other exercises may be taken with dumb- 
bells besides those described; and the exercises may be 
varied by assuming various positions, such as stepping 
out in front with one foot or to the side or behind, as 
shown in Fig. 2, Plate XIX. 

Indian Club Exercises. — The Indian club, like the 
dumb-bell, has been in use from remote times. This 
fact may be inferred from the drawing shown in Fig. 2, 
Plate XX, which is a reproduction from a drawing in 
a very ancient Chinese work on exercise, in the posses- 
sion of the author, for which he is indebted to Hon. John 
Fryer, of Shanghai, China, editor of the PeMn Maga- 
zine, and translator for the Chinese Government. 

Indian club exercises are less easily learned than 
exercises with dumb-bells, but well repay the trouble 
required to become familiar with them. We have not 
space here to describe more than a few of the simpler 
movements. (See Figs. 3 and 4, Plate XIX.) 

1. Grasp the clubs firmly, allowing them to hang at 
the sides, palms inward ; swing the right club up to 
horizontal in front; repeat four times. Do the same 
with the left arm. Alternate the two arms, swinging 
each twice. Swing both together four times. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 123 

2. Hands at the sides ; swing right arm up to hori- 
zontal at the side. Repeat four times with left arm. 
Swing with arms alternately, each twice. Swing both 
together four times. 

3. Place both arms together, horizontally in front. 
Follow same order of movements, swinging clubs to the 
perpendicular. 

4. Placing the arms horizontally at the sides, repeat 
the same movements. 

5. Place the clubs at the sides ; swing right arm to 
perpendicular four times. Repeat with left arm. Al- 
ternate the two arms, swinging each twice. Swing both 
arms together, four times . 

6. Hold the clubs in front horizontally. With the 
right arm make a sweep to the back as far as possible 
in a horizontal plane, and return to position ; repeat four 
times. Do the same with the left arm. Alternate, 
swinging each twice. Swing both together four times. 

7. Arms extended in front. Without bending the 
elbow, by a motion of the wrist bring the right club 
over toward the arm, allowing it to strike the arm, then 
carry it back into the original position. Do this four 
times. Repeat with left club, then alternate each club 
twice, and do the same with both together four times. ■ 

A very large variety of more complicated exer- 
cises with Indian clubs may be easily learned from 
works devoted to the subject. These exercises are 
specially serviceable in strengthening the muscles of 
the back and shoulders, expanding the chest, and cor- 
recting a tendency of the shoulders to fall forward. 



124 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

EXERCISES TO DEYELOP PRRT1CJJLKR PORTIONS 
OF THE BODY, 

To Strengthen the Arms. — The muscles of the 
arm are in more constant use than almost any other 
of the voluntary muscles ; yet the amount of labor re- 
quired in a great share of the exercises in which they are 
employed, is so small that they are often soft and flabby, 
and the arms poorly developed, notwithstanding their 
great activity. By the aid of special exercises, the 
arm may be developed to a very remarkable degree. A 
poorly developed arm lacks the graceful lines of beauty 
which are so conspicuous in the ancient Grecian models 
of the human form. 

The Fore- Arm. — The fore-arm, or that portion of 
the upper extremity between the elbow and the wrist, 
is used in all exercises which require holding objects in 
the hand. This part of the arm is especially used in 
such exercises as hammering, planing, chopping, and 
driving. Pulling one's self up by the hands requires a 
powerful effort on the part of these muscles. But this is 
too powerful exercise for a beginner. Twisting move- 
ments of the arms, such as Exercises 1 to 4 with 
dumb-bells, and Exercise 7 with Indian clubs, are ex- 
cellent means of developing the muscles of the fore-arm. 
Bowing, lifting, and carrying heavy weights in the 
hands are all exercises which strengthen the fore-arm. 

The Inner Side of the Arm. — When the arm is 
bent, a mass of muscle can be felt by placing the other 
hand upon the arm between the shoulder and the elbow. 




'% 




Fig. 1. 



Fig. 3. 




PLATE XIX.— Dumb-Bells and Indian Clubs. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 125 

When the muscles are relaxed, the flesh is soft; but 
when it is brought strongly into exercise, it is felt to 
contract and to harden under the hand. This muscle 
is known as the biceps. It is used in all movements 
which flex or bend the fore-arm, and is strengthened by 
nearly all exercises which develop this part. Exercises 
with dumb-bells are particularly adapted to develop this 
muscle : — 

1. Take in the hands a pair of aumb-bells about one- 
twenty-fifth the weight of the body. Place the hands 
at the sides, standing with the chest well expanded and 
the head up. Slowly raise the dumb-bells up from the 
sides to the shoulders, and return to position. Repeat. 
After a few moments, rest and repeat the exercise until 
the dumb-bells have been raised and lowered forty or fifty 
times. As the strength increases, make the dumb-bells 
heavier, until those weighing ten to fifteen pounds each 
are used. 

Exercises 5 to 16, made slowly with iron dumb- 
bells, rapidly increase the strength of the muscles used. 

2. Pulling weights, arranged so that the handles 
hang from the ceiling, may be used with excellent effect 
to strengthen these muscles. The handles should be 
high enough so they can be just grasped with each hand. 
The weights should be light at first, but should be 
gradually increased. Bring the right hand down to the 
shoulder and return four times. Repeat the same with 
the left hand, the two hands, and then use both together. 
Repeat many times until the muscles have had work 
enough to make them tired. A single pulley-weight, 
drawn from above the head down to the breast, using 
both hands, may be usefully employed in alternation 



126 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

with the double pulley-weights. Lifting weights with 
the hands, holding weights at arms-length, climbing a 
rope and hanging from a bar, or drawing one's self up 
by the hands, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, Plate XXI., 
are excellent exercises for these muscles. The last- 
named exercise should not be attempted, however, until 
the muscles have been made strong by carefully grad- 
uated exercises, which may be advantageously taken 
with the single pulley, increasing the weights from day 
to day until a weight equal to one-half that of the 
body can be readily lifted with one hand; then the 
whole body may be lifted by grasping a horizontal bar 
placed high enough above the head so it can be just 
reached, drawing the body up until the chin is level 
with the bar. Repeating this exercise several times 
will give the biceps all the work they require. 

The Outer Side of the Arm. — This portion of the 
arm is more likely to be neglected than any other. 
When these muscles are not properly developed, the 
arm lacks that symmetrical roundness and plumpness 
which a well-developed arm possesses. The following 
are excellent exercises to strengthen them : — 

1. Grasp the dumb-bells in the hands, and place 
them upon the shoulders. Keeping the left hand in 
position, carry the right hand to the horizontal and back 
slowly. Repeat four times. Do the same with the left 
hand. Alternate, and use both together, repeating as 
many times as desired. 

2. Grasp the pegs shown at Fig. 1, Plate X. 
Draw the feet up from the floor. Now let the body 
down, bending the arms. Straighten the arms, thus 
bringing the body back to position, still holding the feet 



HOW TO BE STRONG. \%>j 

clear from the floor. Repeat the movement. This 
exercise is known as " dipping." It is one of the most 
efficient means of bringing the muscles of the outer arm 
into active exercise. In the absence of more convenient 
means, it may be practiced by supporting the body by 
grasping the backs of two chairs placed a little ways 
apart. At the first attempt, two dips will be sufficient 
to make the muscles thoroughly tired. The number 
should be gradually increased until forty or fifty dips 
can be made without touching the feet to the floor. 
When this can be accomplished, the muscles employed 
may be considered in good condition. Such exercises 
as pushing heavy weights and striking a sand bag with 
the fist are well calculated to develop the muscles of this 
part of the arm. 

The Shoulders. — The front and sides of the shoul- 
ders are vigorously exercised in holding weights at 
arms-length, and swinging the ax in chopping. Dumb- 
bell Exercises, Nos. 17 to 44, and Indian Club Exercises, 
Nos. 1 to 6, are particularly useful in developing the 
shoulders. The upper and back part of the shoulders 
and upper part of the back may be developed by the 
use of dumb-bells, pulley- weights, and particularly by 
rowing. The following excellent exercises strengthen 
these muscles : — 

Grasp the dumb-bells (iron dumb-bells) . Place them 
at the sides, carrying the arms backward as far as 
possible. Stooping work, combined with lifting, such as 
shoveling, breaking stone, and many other laborious 
occupations, develops these muscles powerfully. Lifting 
weights, when the body is erect, brings strongly into 
exercise the large muscle at the back of the neck. 



128 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The Fingers. — The fingers may be strengthened by 
lifting weights, grasping by the thumb and fingers only, 
or holding the weight with one finger by means of a ring 
or loop ; by the use of the pulley-weights, using one 
finger only, instead of the hand ; by supporting the body 
in a hanging position, grasping the edge of a board, as a 
rafter in the garret, or a floor joist overhead in the 
cellar. 

To Develop the Sides of the Waist. — A man who is 
weak at the sides of the waist sways from side to side 
as he walks, particularly when walking fast; hence 
these muscles may be strengthened by rapid walking. 
Hopping, first on one foot and then on the other, contin- 
uing the exercise until one-half or three-fourths of a mile 
can be traversed in this way, is an excellent means of 
strengthening the muscles of the sides of the waist. 
Walking on the edge of the top board of a fence, or the 
iron rail of a railroad track, or a tight rope, with a 
balance pole, gives these muscles very active and im- 
proving exercise. 

Balancing a weight upon the head while walking is 
also an excellent means of strengthening the muscles of 
the waist, as well as of the neck and back. The author 
has often seen in the large cities of Germany, men and 
women carrying ponderous weights upon the head, and 
always remarked the wonderful erectness and steadiness 
of gait which these persons possessed. The simple 
apparatus shown at Fig. 3, Plate X., devised by the 
author for the purpose of exercising and strengthening 
the side muscles, is in use in the gymnasium of the 
Sanitarium, at Battle Creek, Michigan. The muscles of 
the sides are called into vigorous action in energetic 




PLATE XX. 



ROW Y'u S3 STRONG. 129 

walking, with body erect and shoulders back, especially 
if the feet are raised high in stepping. 

To Strengthen the Muscles of the Abdomen. — The 
following exercises are particularly good to strengthen 
these muscles : — 

1. Sit on the side of a chair, placed close to the wall, 
so that the toes may touch the base board. Sit erect 
with the body rigid. Place the hands upon the hips. 
Let the body fall slowly backward, and after a few 
seconds, return to an erect position. After some prac- 
tice, the body can be lowered to a horizontal plane and 
restored again to position with great ease. The exercise 
should be repeated a greater number of times as the 
muscles become stronger. 

2. Fasten a couple of loops to the base board, each 
large enough to admit the foot. Place a low stool at 
such a distance from the wall that when one sits upon it 
with the limbs extended, the feet can be placed in the 
loops. Now place the hands upon the hips, and sway 
the body back and forth. 

3. Lie on the back on the floor or on an ordinary 
bench. Fill the lungs by taking a deep breath. Keep 
the legs stiff. Place the hands upon the hips. Raise 
the trunk slowly to the perpendicular, and slowly return 
to the horizontal. Repeat several times. The vigor of 
this exercise may be much increased by placing weights; 
upon the shoulders. 

4. Stand erect. Place the hands upon the hips, and 
bend backward as far as possible. Then bring the body 
to the perpendicular. This not only exercises the ab- 
dominal muscles, but stretches them when they have 
become contracted, and corrects flatness and posterior 



130 MAN % THE MASTERPIECE. 

curvature of the spine, which are indicated by a 
sunken-in appearance of the lower part of the chest. 

5. Other exercises, such as swinging clubs, using 
dumb-bells, chopping, pushing with the hands, etc., also 
strengthen these muscles. 

To Strengthen the Bach and Loins.— A person who 
is weak in the back, needs such exercises as will 
strengthen the muscles on either side of the spine and 
the lower part of the trunk. These very important 
muscles are called into action in nearly all kinds of work. 
One who is weak, very easily strains the muscles by 
some extra exercise, giving rise to much pain and suffer- 
ing, which shows the importance of making them 
stronger by special exercises calculated to develop them. 

1. Sit upon a stool with the feet secured by loops 
fastened to the floor. Place the hands upon the hips, 
and bend the body slowly forward and back to position 
several times. Bend the body backward in the same 
way, and to either side, repeating each movement a 
number of times. Or, stand erect, the feet half or two- 
thirds of a yard apart. Clasp the arms above the head, 
and sway the body back and forth and from side to side. 
(See Fig. 3, Plate XXI.) 

2. Standing against the wall, place the hands upon 
the hips and bend the head down as far as possible with- 
out bending the knees. If the muscles of the back are 
rigid, it would be well to have an assistant press the 
head down a little farther when the body has been bent 
as much as possible. (See Fig. 4, Plate XXI.) 

3. Stand a foot or two from the the wall. Lean 
against the wall, supporting the body by the head, keep- 
ing the trunk and limbs rigid, as shown in Fig. 1, Plate 
XXII. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 131 

4. Place two low stools far enough apart so that the 
difference between them will be about six inches less 
than the hight of the body. Now lie down, and place 
the feet upon one and the head upon the other, so that 
the body will be supported between the two, as shown 
in Fig. 4, Plate XXIII. 

5. Place the body in the position shown in Fig. 5, 
Plate XXII., the feet being placed under the edge of a 
sofa. Now inflate the lungs, and bend forward to the 
floor. Return to position and repeat. 

6. An excellent exercise to strengthen the muscles 
of the neck and back is shown in Fig. 2, Plate XXII. 

7. The muscles of the loins are developed by the 
use of dumb-bells, Indian clubs, and pulley-weights, 
as well as by such occupations as hoeing, shoveling, 
lifting, carrying weights, etc. 

To Expand the Chest. — Attention should be given 
to the chest, in connection with all other exercises, by 
taking care to keep the shoulders back, and filling the 
lungs before taking any exercise. The following exer- 
cises are calculated to broaden the chest : — 

1. The use of dumb-bells at arms-length, with the 
head well thrown back, and the face looking toward the 
ceiling. 

2. Long and deep breathing, many times repeated, 
the effect of which may be increased by drawing in and 
expelling the air through a small tube. 

3. Swinging by the hands from a horizontal bar, or 
from the top of a door. (Fig. 1, Plate XXI.) 

4. Standing in a door-way, place the hands upon 
either side above the head, as shown in Fig. 3, Plate 
XXIII. Raise one foot and place it forward, as shown 



132 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

in the cut, at the same time energetically throwing the 
whole trunk forward. Repeat the movement several 
times. 

5. Arrange two pulley-weights so that the handles 
will hang from the ceiling at such a hight above the 
head that they can be just reached by the hands when 
stretched perpendicularly. Grasp the handles with the 
palms outward, and lower the arms to horizontal, keep- 
ing them well extended. After holding several seconds, 
return to the original position, and repeat. 

6. To increase the depth of the chest, no exercise is 
superior to the use of the single pulley. Attach a bar 
to the end of the rope. Grasp this with both hands 
placed about one foot apart. Draw the bar down from 
above the head to the chest, and return to position. 
The weight should be gradually increased until it 
amounts to one-half the weight of the body. All exer- 
cises with the arms enlarge the chest by pulling upon 
the ribs ; but of all exercises described in this chapter, 
none are of greater importance than those which develop 
the breathing capacity. 

7. In Fig. 5, Plate XXIII., is illustrated an admira- 
ble movement for developing the muscles of the chest 
and back. The weight is partly sustained by the hands, 
which grasp the top of a bed post, or a ring fastened in 
a wall or post. The movement consists in swinging the 
body, making the hands and feet the center of this mo- 
tion. The movement may be varied by allowing the 
body to fall slowly forward, the arms bending at the 
elbow, and then straightening the arms, and bringing 
the body to position again. This movement not only 
strengthens the muscles of the chest, but also the mus- 
cles of the abdomen and back. 




PLATE XXI. 



HOW TO BE STRONG. 133 

Fig. 3, Plate XXIL, shows still another exercise 
which is admirably calculated to strengthen and expand 
the chest. 

To Develop the Legs. — 1. The calf of the leg is not 
much used in ordinary walking, but by keeping the 
knees well sprung back, and making a little push with 
the rear foot at the same time that the forward foot is 
being placed in position, which may be termed " pusr> 
walking," the calf may be brought into very active and 
vigorous exercise. Running fast, hopping, jumping, and 
leaping also bring the muscles of the calf into active ex- 
ercise. 

The simple exercise shown in Fig. 1, Plate XXIII., 
which consists in rising slowly to a position known as 
toe-standing, then slowly lowering again and repeating, 
brings the muscles of the calf into vigorous exercise. 
This movement should be repeated from fifty to five 
hundred times to secure the proper amount of exercise. 
2. The muscles of the front side of the calf are not 
used in ordinary walking ; but in fast walking, walking 
with the knees well sprung back, in stooping and in bal- 
ancing, these muscles are powerfully exercised. They 
are also brought into full play by standing and walking 
upon the heels. Standing upon the heels and holding 
weights upon the toes is another means of giving these 
muscles special work. 

3. The muscles of the front of the thigh are specially 
exercised in running, jumping, and fast walking. They 
may be well exercised by standing with the back to the 
wall, bending up one leg and placing the foot against 
the wall, and alternately contracting and relaxing the 
muscles of the bent leg, pushing the body away from 
the wall, and allowing it to fall back into position. 



134: MA2T, THE MASTERPIECE. 

4. The muscles at the back of the thigh are exercised 
in push-walking, in bending forward with the knees well 
sprung back until able to touch the floor with the hand 
(this is an essential part of what is known as the " setting 
up drill," to which fresh cadets at West Point and other 
military schools are subjected), and walking with weights 
attached to the foot, or using the pulley-weights with 
the foot. In throwing the foot violently forward, as 
in kicking, these muscles are vigorously exercised. 

5. An excellent exercise for the feet is shown in Fig. 
2, Plate XXIII. It consists in bending the leg at the 
knee, thus throwing the weight upon the foot, which is 
braced against the wall, called half-knee bending. 

Daily Exercise for a Young Man. — The following 
represents about the amount of exercise which a young 
man engaged in sedentary habits should take each day 
to keep himself in good health : — 

1. Toe-rising and breathing, arms raising, ten times. 

2. Lifting one-fifteenth of body-weight dumb-bells, 
fifty times. 

3. Toe-rismg and breathing, ten times . 

4. Half-knee bending, fifty times. 

5. Toe-rising and breathing, ten times. 

6. Dumb-bells backward lifting and holding, fifty 
times. 

7. Toe-rising and breathing, ten times. 

8. Dumb-bells upward raising from shoulders, fifty 
times. 

9. Toe-rising and breathing, ten times. 

10. Dumb-bells lowered from vertical to horizontal 
at sides, fifty times, resting after each ten times. 

11. Walking two to five miles. 



A Chapter on Ethics. 




s*§eS8S04<-s 

ORALITY. — The essence of morality is right 
doing, or the practical recognition of the 
obligation to law. Man is a part of the great 
universe, and is as much under the domain 
of law as the planets, rocks, trees, and other 
natural objects, or as the pebble, which, when 
thrown in the air, falls to the ground in 
obedience to the law of gravitation. De- 
structive agents of every description affect 
man as readily as though he were of no 
greater value than a senseless rock or a 
decaying log. 

In addition to the general laws which relate to all 
natural objects, and to which man is subject in common 
with all other objects, man is governed by various special 
laws which relate to his physical, mental, and moral 
welfare. For example, his digestive apparatus, from its 
very nature, is able to work well and easily and effect- 
ively under certain conditions ; while under others its 
activity is imperfect and inefficient. In other words, 
there are certain laws which relate to digestion, the 
infringement of which is visited by the penalty, — indi- 
gestion. So, also, certain laws regulate the activity of 
the muscles, the lungs, the heart, — every portion of that 

[135] 



136 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

delicately contrived machine which we call the body. 
It is also evident that the mind, which is intimately re- 
lated to the brain, acts in accordance with certain well- 
defined laws ; and a failure to observe this fact often 
results in serious and sometimes irreparable injury. If 
it were not for the penalties which nature has attached 
to the violation of her laws, man would often abuse his 
body in the most gross and shameless manner, wholly 
perverting its functions and objects from the original in- 
tention of his Creator. 

Pain a Blessing. — When we violate a physical law, 
nature warns us that we must cease wrong doing, and 
mend our ways. If we might thrust any portion of the 
body into a fire without being burned, how long would 
we be likely to escape serious injury from this destruc- 
tive agent, as the result either of neglect or carelessness ? 
If we heed the first hints of warning nature gives us, we 
may be protected from the grave injuries which often 
result from neglecting her warnings ; but if we ignore 
the friendly warning cf danger which nature gives 
whenever we go astray from the path of physical recti- 
tude, in the form of pain, discomfort, or other unpleasant 
symptoms, nature after a time ceases to enter protest 
against the abuse to which she is subjected, leaving the 
body practically defenseless against the enemies of life 
and health with which it is surrounded. 

Moral Law. — The moral nature, as well as the phys- 
ical and mental, is also subject to various laws, the 
observance of which is necessary for its well-being. 
What these laws are, we need not stop to define, as they 
are epitomized in the most faultless manner in that 
wonderful crystallization of all moral principles uiid 




PLATE XXII. 



A CHAPTER ON ETHICS. 137 

precepts, the Divine Decalogue. Though graven in 
stone by the finger of the Almighty at Sinai, these rules 
for the moral direction of human beings were not there 
created, but, like those laws which relate to man's 
physical organism, were the outgrowth of his moral 
nature, the necessary consequence of the relations 
established between man and his fellow-man by the fiat 
of the Creator which brought him into existence. The 
violation of one of these moral principles must as 
certainly result in injury to the transgressor, as the 
violation of those laws which relate to his digestion, or 
to -the activity of any of his bodily organs. 

The idea that the Almighty made man, and then 
laid down certain arbitrary rules by which his moral 
acts should be governed, is a mistaken one. The dire 
consequences of sin are as much the result of the 
infraction of the principles which are the natural out- 
growth of man's moral constitution, as the pain which 
follows the exposure of the flesh to mechanical violence, 
or the action of a chemical agent, is the result of the 
violation of those laws which relate to his physical 
constitution, and which govern the relations of his body 
to external things. 

Those who find fault with the Almighty for making 
men subject to pain and suffering, physically, mentally, 
and morally, would do well to consider for a moment 
what would be the consequence if all penalties for wrong 
doing were abrogated. The patient, groaning with dis- 
tress, looks upon pain as a calamity which he would 
gladly escape from if possible. The wise physician 
recognizes pain as one of man's best friends, since it 
warns him of his danger when pleasure or fancy allures 



138 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

him from the straight road of physical rectitude. So, 
also, the moral physician looks upon the penalties of 
moral transgression, not as calamities, but as monitors, 
deprived of the influence of which, most human beings 
would quickly lose themselves in the mazes of moral 
turpitude. 

Morality is generally looked upon as relating solely 
to those relations which are directly embraced in the 
injunctions of the ten commandments ; but the view 
which regards man as a natural object, governed only 
by natural laws, and which defines right doing as being 
simply obedience to law, gives to the term morality an 
immensely broader scope, and makes it include all those 
laws and principles by which his entire being is governed. 

This notion of morality is confessedly a modern one, 
or rather a revival of a primitive idea which was hidden 
so deep in the mental and moral darkness of the middle 
ages that it has only in modern times begun to reach 
the light. Less than a thousand years ago, physical 
and moral uprightness were supposed to be so far 
dissevered as to be actually antagonistic ; and indeed, it 
is asserted that the idea that the degree of a person's 
holiness was to some extent proportionate to his lack of 
cleanliness, was once so prevalent among a certain class 
of religionists that to be extremely filthy in habits was 
considered more creditable than to be scrupulously neat. 

Bogus Religion. — According to a recognized author- 
ity, St. Ignatius was accustomed to appear abroad " with 
old, dirty shoes. He never used a comb, but allowed 
his hair to clot, and religiously abstained from paring 
his nails. One saint attained to such piety as to have 
nearly three hundred patches on his breeches, which. 



A CHAPTER ON ETHICS. 139 

after his death, were hung up in public as an incentive 
to imitation. St. Francis discovered by certain experi- 
ence that the devils were frightened away by such kind 
of breeches, but were animated by clean clothing to 
tempt and seduce the wearers ; and one of their heroes 
declares that the purest souls are in the dirtiest bodies. 
Brother Juniper was a gentleman perfectly pious on this 
principle ; indeed, so great was his merit in this species 
of mortification, that a brother declared that he could 
always nose Brother Juniper within a mile of the mon- 
astery, provided the wind was at the due point. Many 
stories are told of lions and other fierce beasts of prey 
rushing upon such holy men in the desert, but suddenly 
stopping in their career, and flying away with every 
sign of fear and terror ; which may well be credited, 
the ' odor of sanctity ' being too much for the olfactory 
nerves of a lion." 

Genuine Religion. — A genuine morality is broad 
enough to take in the whole man, and demand self-respect, 
and obedience to all the laws relating to his welfare. 
This is genuine religion, pure and undented. The re- 
ligion of Socrates, while embodying many and most 
excellent moral precepts, still gave license for the free 
gratification of the animal instincts, and ignored to a large 
degree the moral obligation to care for and discipline the 
body. The religion of Buddha, while stimulating its 
disciples to a high degree of self-control and self-abnega- 
tion, ignored the poor body as worthy but to be crucified 
or tormented, as a possible means of improving the 
soul. The religion of Mohammed, while imposing many 
sanitary obligations, pictures a heaven teeming with 
sensual pleasures. Nowhere else but in enlightened 



140 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Christianity is there to be found a religion broad enough 
to embrace a whole human being, an entire humanity. 

Religion includes something more than simply 
morality. It includes not only belief in a higher Power, 
and in personal and individual obligations to the same, 
but a recognition of an individual dependence upon the 
higher Intelligence, and faith in His ability and readiness 
to afford aid and succor in times of need and distress. 
One of the most unhappy tendencies of the times is the 
growing disposition to skepticism, which is apparent to 
every one. Too often the young, dazzled by the 
achievements of science, and perplexed by the apparent 
discrepancies between natural and revealed truth, are 
led to reject the simple revelation of inspiration, and to 
exalt beyond their real importance the dicta of men of 
science. Others are beguiled by the wily but blas- 
phemous sophistries of Ingersoll and his followers. A 
few months since, at a public meeting in London, at 
which our late minister to England, Mr. Lowell, was 
present, some of the speakers of the evening took 
occasion to sneer at religion, saying that they could get 
along without it, and depreciated its influence upon men. 
The admirable reply of Mr. Lowell was so effectual an 
answer to the arguments urged by those skeptics, that 
we take pleasure in quoting it as follows : — 

Minister Lowell on Skepticism. — " I do not think 
it safe. I am formulating no creed of my own ; I have 
always been a liberal thinker, and have, therefore, 
allowed others, who differed from me, to think also as 
they liked ; but at the same time I fear that when we 
indulge ourselves in the amusement of going without a 
religion, we are not, perhaps, aware how much we are sus- 




PLATE XXIII. 



A CHAPTER OX ETHICS. 141 

tained at present by an enormous mass, all about us. of re- 
ligious feeling and religious conviction ; so that, what- 
ever it rnav be safe for us to think. — for us who have 
had great advantages, and have been brought up in such 
a way that a certain moral direction has been given to 
our character. — I do not know what would become 
of the less favored classes of mankind if they undertook 
to play the same game. I wished only to enter the pro- 
test of one in whose veins runs the blood of Calvinistic 
ancestors, against the way in which Calvinism has been 
spoken of, and also to remind one of the speakers that 
the saint whom he quoted was the same who said, i The 
greatest of these is charity.' Whatever defects and im- 
perfections may attach to a few points of the doctrinal 
system of Calvin, — the bulk of which was simply what 
all Christians believe, — it will be found that Calvinism, 
or any other ism which claims an open Bible and pro- 
claims a crucified and risen Christ, is infinitely prefer- 
able to any form of polite and polished skepticism, 
which gathers as its votaries the degenerate sons 
of heroic ancestors, who, having been trained in a 
society, and educated in schools, the foundations of 
which were laid by men of faith and piety, now turn 
and kick down the ladder by which they have climbed 
up, and persuade men to live without God, and leave 
them to die without hope. The worst kind of religion 
is no religion at all; and these men, living in ease and 
luxurv. indulging themselves in the * amusement of going 
without religion,' may be thankful that they live inlands 
where the gospel they neglect has tamed the beastli- 
ness and ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, 
miskt Ions; as:o have eaten their carcasses like the South 



1^2 H^Ly, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their 
hides like the monsters of the French Revolution. 

" When the microscopic search of skepticism, which 
has hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove 
the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to hu- 
man society, and has found a place on this planet ten 
miles square where a decent man can live in decency, com- 
fort, and security, supporting and educating his children 
unspoiled and unpolluted ; a place where age is rever- 
enced, infancy protected, manhood respected, woman- 
hood honored, and human life held in due regard. — when 
skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this 
globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and 
cleared the way, and laid the foundations, and made 
decency and security possible, it will then be in order 
for the skeptical literati to move thither, and there 
ventilate their views. But so Ions: as these very men 
are dependent upon the religion which they discard 
for every privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate 
a little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope 
and humanity of its faith in that Saviour who alone has 
given to man that hope of eternal life which makes life 
tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its ter- 
rors and the grave of its gloom." 

Skepticism not Safe. — Mr. Lowell well remarked, 
" I think it not safe/' referring to the position held by 
the skeptics to whom he was replying. Is skepticism 
safe for any one ? Is it safe for a young man starting 
out to fight the battles of life ? Can he afford to get 
alona 1 without the aid of a religion which can do him no 
possible harm, and which has evidently been a prop and 
a stay to thousands, and a source of comfort of inestimable 



A CHAPTER OH ETHICS. 143 

value ? Think for a moment, young man, what will be 
your condition if in the end it should prove that your 
unbelief was a delusion, and that in rejecting the claims 
of Christianity and religion, you have rejected the only 
means by which you can be rescued from the thralldom 
of sin, and secure participation in a life beyond the 
grave. Suppose, on the other hand, it should prove 
that the Christian is mistaken. What harm can come 
to him ? His religion has been all his life a comfort to 
him, and he has lived a better life, a purer life, and 
really a more successful life than he could have lived 
without it. If there is no life beyond the grave, he has 
lost nothing by his belief in it. The risk is all on one 
side. 

Neglecting all considerations but those pertaining to 
the present life, is it not evident that every young man 
who would make a true success of life, needs, first of all, 
the guiding, strengthening, subduing, and controlling 
influence of religion ? Man is a curious compound. He 
has in him qualities which ally him to the divine and 
pure beings of another world, linked with gross animal 
qualities which he shares in common with the brutes. 
In other words, every man has within him a beast, with 
appetites and passions which clamor for gratification. 
A good part of the battle of life, with a man who fights 
truly and manfully, is to subdue the beast within him, 
which, when once it rises to the mastery, seizes upon 
the intelligence, smothers the moral faculties, and makes 
of the man, once an image of his divine Creator, a veri- 
table fiend, more grossly brutish than the most savage 
beast that prowls the earth. With a nature full of in- 
herited tendencies to vice and grossness, surrounded by 



144 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

temptations and incitements to evil on every hand, how 
can a man, even though his impulses may be good, con- 
tend single-handed against such fearful odds ? Religion 
affords a means by which the beasts of appetite and 
passion may be subdued and chained — yea, even slain ; 
and most unwise is he who, in his vain self-sufficiency, 
rejects this most essential of all aids, religion. 

Influence of Habit. — The brain and nerves are so 
curiously fashioned that any act repeated many times 
comes at last to be performed with such ease and readi- 
ness that it is done with little or no voluntary effort. 
Such an act is said to be habitual, and may in time 
come to be performed quite unconsciously. In the for- 
mation of habits, the structure of the brain is actually 
modified in such a way as to enable certain acts to be 
performed much more easily than others. This explains 
why it is so difficult for habits to be broken, and why it 
sometimes seems absolutely impossible for the unfortu- 
nate victim of some wretched vice to free himself from 
a thing which, in his better moments, he thoroughly 
abhors. For such as these, particularly, religion affords 
a means of aid invaluable. But even with all the aids 
to be afforded by this and every other means, the battle 
for victory over habits long indulged is sometimes a 
most terrific one. Hence the importance of forming in 
early youth such habits as will not need to be broken. 
The world is full of people whose usefulness is nearly or 
quite destroyed by unfortunate habits contracted during 
youth. Let the young man who aspires to a noble and 
useful manhood, watch carefully over himself during his 
early years, when the foundations of his character,, 
which will influence his whole life, are being laid. 



A CHAPTER OX ETHICS. 14.5 

Ethics of Health Caring. — " But," says a young 
man who recognizes the importance of holding fast to the 
principles of morality, as related to other matters, " is it 
anybody's business what I eat or drink or wear, or how 
I use my body? Do not I belong to myself? and 
haven't I a right to do as I please with myself?" 
These and similar remarks are very frequently heard by 
those who urge the moral obligation of health culture, 
and apparently in full sincerity on the part of those who 
make them, and with entire confidence that they are 
offering an unanswerable argument in support of their 
personal rights to do as they please respecting their own 
bodies, whether their actions are in harmony with the 
laws of health or not. 

Let us see how much truth there is in the claim 
that individual rights include the right to treat the body 
in a manner not consistent with its interests, — to abuse 
the stomach for the purpose of affording the palate a 
questionable gratification ; to whip and goad the brain 
and nerves by stimulants to do more work than is possi- 
ble for them to do without injury ; to recklessly violate 
any or all of the laws of health. 

Individual Rights. — The claim is not that disregard 
of the laws of health does not injure the body, but that 
a man has a right to abuse his body if he chooses. Let 
us see. Here is a man who has vast possessions, — 
houses, barns, well-filled granaries, collections of rare 
and curious natural objects, galleries filled with beautiful 
works of art, safes filled with paying stocks and govern- 
ment securities, — all sorts of wealth. Suppose this man 
takes it into his head to destroy this wealth. Possessed 

by this idea, he sets fire to his houses and barns and 

10 



14:6 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

granaries, and into the flames hurls the contents of his 
costly collections ; deliberately enters his art galleries, 
and demolishes the masterpieces of great artists which 
adorn the walls ; opens the doors of his safes and vaults, 
and one by one commits his treasures to the flames. 
Hold on there ! says the Law, and its strong hand is laid 
upon him as soon as his purpose is discovered. A man 
who thus recklessly destroys his property is regarded 
as either a criminal or a lunatic, and, in either case, unfit 
to be at large. The State recognizes the fact that the 
man's property is not wholly his own, or at least that 
others have interests in it. What he does not require 
for his own use, belongs to his children or other surviv- 
ing relatives ; or, in case he dies without a will and with- 
out heirs, to the State. 

The State recognizes the right of a child to inherit 
from his father his due share of the property which the 
latter may have acquired. Ought not intelligent men 
and women to recognize the fact that the child has an 
even greater right to inherit from its parents a constitu- 
tion unimpaired by vicious or injurious habits or neglect 
of the requirements of physical law? What can any 
parent possess which the child may inherit, that can be 
estimated as of greater value than a sound constitution, 
and vitality unimpaired by disease induced by excesses 
or by disregard of the wants of the body ? If the rights 
of a child to inherit a fair share of the material wealth 
of its parents are considered worthy of respect and 
attention, are not its rights to inherit a sound and 
healthy body equally worthy of consideration ? 

Human Omnibuses. — The man who injures his con- 
stitution by reckless disregard of health laws, not only 



A CHAPTER OF ETHICS. 147 

impairs his own usefulness and real happiness, shorten- 
ing his life, and bringing upon himself disease in various 
forms with all its attendant sufferings and inconveniences, 
but entails upon his children and his children's children, 
as well as all succeeding generations, the same diseases 
or tendencies thereto, and the same curtailment of life 
and happiness which he himself suffers. Indeed, the 
results of his follies may be felt even more keenly by 
his children and grandchildren than by himself. That 
quaint philosopher, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, remarks 
that each one of us is an omnibus, in which ride all our 
ancestors. What right has any man by reckless habits 
of life to compel each of his children to carry about in 
his " omnibus " the results of the selfish gratification of 
depraved tastes and morbid appetites ? 

A Live Picture Gallery. — It may be said, and there 
is no exaggeration in the figure, that each man is a 
picture gallery, in which hangs the portrait of each of 
his predecessors ; and among the pictures which hang 
upon the walls, may be seen some brilliant with beauty, 
others hideous with deformity; some beaming with 
health and vigor, others scarred and wasted by disease. 
Let every man who thinks he has a right to treat his 
body as he pleases, consider for a moment the fact that 
his portrait may sometime hang in somebody's picture 
gallery, drawn true to nature by an artist who never 
glosses over defects, or embellishes deficiencies. It is a 
matter of no small consequence to the owner of said 
gallery whether the picture which hangs there represents 
disease and decrepitude, or vigorous vitality. 

In the grand palace of an Eastern prince stands the 
masterpiece of one of the greatest sculptors that ever 



148 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

lived. The grace and symmetry of form and pose give 
to the white marble a startling appearance of life. The 
delicate beauty of the artist's conception, and the accu- 
racy of the execution, are beyond description. A reck- 
less vandal sees the treasure, and deliberately proceeds 
to deface it, until no trace of its former beauty exists. 
We look upon such an act with horror akin to that 
excited by murder or sacrilege. The human body is 
the masterpiece of the divine Architect. How dare any 
man say he may deface and destroy it if he choose ! 

The highest type of morality requires obedience to 
all laws, ready recognition and acquiescence to their 
requirements, and sturdy adherence to the right be- 
cause it is right. The highest type of Christian 
will include in his creed the religion of the body as 
well as that of the mind and heart, and should accept 
for his rule of action a decalogue which recognizes 
every law essential to the physical and mental as well 
as the moral welfare of a human being. 

Mind and Body. — Another consideration, which cer- 
tainly is worthy of the thought of every young man, 
is the fact that the brain which does his thinking is 
a part of his body, and that whatever seriously affects 
his physical health, whatever lowers nerve or vital 
tone, directly affects, in a harmful way, his mind. 
The man whose vital tone is lowered by sedentary oc- 
cupation, by dissipation, by any means which over- 
taxes or exhausts the nervous system, is in a condi- 
tion of lowered nerve tone, which means lowered brain 
tone, lowered mental tone, and lowered moral tone. In 
such a condition of the body, acts which under other 
circumstances would be looked upon with horror, lose 



A CHAPTER ON ETHICS. 149 

their ghastly loathsomeness, and may at first be tol- 
erated — afterward indulged. A man who is worn out 
and exhausted physically, cannot possibly appreciate 
with proper clearness and acuteness the bearing and re- 
lations of moral principles, as he can when refreshed 
by rest and recuperation. When one is exhausted and 
fatigued, the keen sense of propriety is lessened. 
Moral sensibilities previously acute are benumbed, and 
he is readily captured in the net which fortuitous cir- 
cumstances or designing slaves to vice or crime may 
weave about him. 

Thus it appears that health has a very important re- 
lation to morality, using the word in its common and 
narrow sense, and that no man who desires to live a 
pure and upright life can afford to run the risk of 
lessening his moral tone and his power of resistance 
to evil by impairment of his physical and mental 
vigor. 

Millions in It. — Futhermore, it is the duty of every 
human being to make the very most of himself, and 
nothing is more important to a young man preparing 
himself for his life-work, than that he should make the 
most of his life, by preserving the highest possible de- 
gree of health. There are millions in it, — millions of 
happiness, usefulness, even of wealth. A man without 
health, even if his burglar-proof safe contains the 
wealth of a Rothschild or a Vanderbilt, is poorer than 
the ragged news-boy whose clarion voice resounds with 
robust health, and whose rosy cheeks tell of the rich- 
ness of the vital fluid in his veins ; or the Italian 
peasant boy whose daily toil gives him a vigorous 
appetite for the handful of chestnuts upon which he 
dines. 



150 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The millionaire is rich in cash, but often poor in 
comfort. He has a heavy pocket-book, and a heavier 
heart; a table spread with costly dainties, but no ap- 
petite ; a palatial abode, and a pain-racked body in 
it. The hydra-headed monster, dyspepsia, glares at 
him from every savory viand at the dinner table. 
When he ventures out to walk over his domains, a 
vexatious rheumatism causes him to make wry faces at 
every step. If in his magnificent turn-out he seeks in- 
vigoration in the morning air, a veritable fiend, which 
the doctors have named tic-douloareux, drives him 
back to his overheated chamber, writhing with 
pain. When he lies down upon his luxurious couch, 
he sleeps not the sleep of health and physical soundness, 
but rolls and tosses restlessly about until a horrid 
nightmare settles down upon him, and holds him in 
its deathly grip. The glorious morning sun beams 
not with joy and gladness upon such an one. He rises 
languidly from his couch of torture, and begins an- 
other wretched day. The wood-chopper, with his 
brawny arm, his magnificent digestion, his sound rest, 
his ignorance of " nerves," nightmares, and neuralgias, 
is the envy of the millionaire, and justly so"; he is 
the richer man of the two. The one has golden wealth, 
the other glorious health, and finds millions in it, 
though his pocket-book is thin, and his bill of fare a 
crust. 



Social Ethics. 




MONGr the obligations which human beings 
owe to each other, are courtesy and agreeable- 
ness. The man who robs his friends of the 
pleasure which they might derive from in- 
tercourse with him, by a coarse and brutish 
or otherwise disagreeable manner, is virtually 
a thief, for he deprives his associates of 
that to which they are rightfully entitled. 
We have elsewhere spoken of the value of 
courtesy as an aid to success, and need not 
here repeat what we have there said upon this point ; 
and recognizing the fact that one of the essential re- 
quirements for agreeableness of manner in social in- 
tercourse is a knowledge of the customs and usages of 
good society, we append a few of the most essential 
rules of etiquette by which boys and young men should 
be governed in social intercourse among themselves 
and in polite society : — 

Introductions. — In matters of introduction, the 
proper form is to present the gentleman to the lady, a 
younger to an elder person, an inferior in social standing 
to a superior. It is the place of the person thus pre- 
sented to open the conversation. 

A slight bow is all the salutation which courtesy 

[151] 



152 MAJST, THE MASTERPIECE. 

requires after an introduction. Shaking hands is op- 
tional, and it should rest with the one to whom the party 
is introduced to make the first advances. Shaking hands 
evinces greater cordiality and friendliness than a simple 
bow. 

If several persons are to be presented to an individ- 
ual, the name of the single party should be mentioned 
first, and the others enumerated in succession, each 
bowing slightly as his name is pronounced. 

If an individual is to be presented to a company, an 
announcement of the party's name, and his title if he is a 
professional man or an official, is all that is required. 

Friendly letters of introduction should be given only 
to intimate friends, introducing them to persons with 
whom the writer is also well acquainted. Letters of 
introduction to business or professional men should like- 
wise be given only to and for parties well known to the 
writer, and even in these cases, only when the writer is 
perfectly satisfied that an acquaintance will be mutually 
agreeable or profitable to both parties. 

SHSK3 — 

FORM OF LETTER INTRODUCING A PERSONAL FRIEND. 

J. H. Hooker, Esq. 

Dear Friend, — This note will introduce to you Hon. 
Thomas Jones, a very particular friend of mine, tvho desires 
to meet you. Trusting the acquaintance zvill be mutually 
agreeable, I remain, as ever, 

Your friend, 

William James. 



SOCIAL ETHICS. 153 



FORM OF LETTER INTRODUCING A BUSINESS 
ACQUAINTANCE. 

Messrs. Hallow ay & Co. 

Gents., — / take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. 
Timothy Smith of this city, tvho visits New Yo?°1c for the 
purpose of purchasing goods in your line, and by my sug- 
gestion will call upon you. Mr. S. enjoys in this community 
the reputation of being a reliable and honorable business 
man, as well as a good citizen and a pleasant acquaintance. 
Very respectfully yours, 

John Richards. 

Letters of introduction to and from business men 
may be delivered by the person introduced, and etiquette 
does not require the receiver to entertain the bearer as 
a guest or friend, though common courtesy will naturally 
suggest that such kind attentions as are practicable be 
shown him. 

Letters of introduction of a friendly character should 
be sent to the person to whom they are directed, with 
the bearer's card and address. If the person receiving 
the letter feels favorable toward forming the acquaint- 
ance, he will call upon the party introduced in person, 
or by note acknowledge the receipt of the letter with an 
invitation to call; or he may simply send his own card, 
when the bearer of the letter of introduction is at liberty 
to call upon him. 

Upon the Streets. — An inclination of the head, a 
gesture of the hand, or mere touching of the hat is 
a sufficient salutation between gentlemen meeting upon 



154 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the street. A gentleman in saluting a lady, or an 
elderly or superior gentleman, should raise the hat com- 
pletely from the head 

A gentleman walking with a lady should bow to 
those who recognize her, even though he be unacquainted 
with them, thus showing respect for them out of respect 
for his companion. 

Always bow to an acquaintance when meeting upon 
the street. It is a mark of ill-breeding to pass a friend 
unrecognized, and it is civility to return a bow, even if 
you do not recognize the person. He may be some one 
whom you have met and forgotten. 

In bowing, it is not necessary to bend the body, 
simply an inclination of the head is sufficient. The 
recognition should be respectful, familiar, or cordial, 
according to circumstances, but never accompanied by a 
broad smile. 

A gentleman walking with a lady should treat her 
with the utmost deference. He may take either side of 
the walk, the lady always being given the side least 
exposed to inconvenience, crowding, or danger. He 
should offer to carry any parcel she may have, and 
should adapt his pace to her pleasure. In a crowd, the 
gentleman should always precede the lady. Two gen- 
tlemen accompanying the same lady should allow her to 
walk between them. 

It is not customary for a gentleman to offer a lady 
his arm except when walking in the evening or upon an 
occasion when her safety, comfort, or convenience seems 
to demand it. 

A gentleman should not join a lady acquaintance 
upon the street for the purpose of walking with her, 



SOCIAL ETHICS. 155 



without first ascertaining whether his company would 
be perfectly agreeable to her. A gentleman wishing to 
converse with a lady whom he meets upon the street, 
should not stop her, but turn and walk with her until he 
has said what he wished, and should then, lifting his hat, 
bow and leave her. 

On entering or leaving a store, house, or room with 
a lady, the gentleman should hold the door open and allow 
her to pass through first. A gentleman meeting a lady 
in a door-way, should stand aside, lift his hat, and wait 
for her to pass ; or if the door be closed, should open it, 
and hold it open until she has passed. 

Do not shout across the street to an acquaintance. 
All loud talking, laughing, or staring upon the street or 
in public places is decidedly vulgar. Gentlemen do not 
stand upon street corners, or lounge about hotels and 
stores, and talk about and stare at ladies as they pass. 

To eat fruit, nuts, confectionery, or anything else on 
the streets, is not in good taste. 

Looking back, after one has passed a person or an 
object, is not considered proper, unless the occasion be 
an extraordinary one. 

Calls. — In making a short formal or business call, a 
gentleman should carry his hat and gloves, which are 
considered part of his toilet, in his left hand, but should 
not place them on the chairs or parlor table. If 
found necessary for some cause to use both hands, the 
hat should be placed upon the floor beside his chair. 
Umbrellas should be left in the hall or at the door. 

In making informal calls or visits, the hat, gloves, cane, 
and overcoat should be left in the hall. 

An informal call may be at least fifteen minutes long, 
but should not be so Ions; as to be tedious. 



156 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Upon entering a drawing-room where a number of 
people are present, a person should bow slightly, as 
a general salutation before speaking to any one. 

Choose a time to withdraw when there is a lull in 
the conversation; and after taking leave of the hostess, 
bow to those in the room, not separately, but to all at 
once. 

Upon rising to take leave, go at once, do not start 
and then linger. 

Never call upon a professional man or woman in 
office hours except on business, and always make the 
interview as brief as consistent. 

In calling upon parties living in a hotel or boarding- 
house, it is customary to wait in the general parlor, and 
send up your card to the room of the person on whom 
you have intended to call. 

Always be punctual in keeping an engagement. 
One has no right to waste the time of others by keeping 
them waiting. 

Do not ask the price of any article you may observe 
belonging to another, except from intimate friends, and 
then only by asking permission to do so. 

Do not walk about a room while waiting for your 
host, examining pictures, handling articles about the 
room, or striking upon the keys of an open piano. 

Conversation. — Do not intrude business or profes- 
sional matters into general conversation unless ques- 
tioned by those participating. Long and heated dis- 
cussions should always be avoided. 

In conversation, aim to acquire the habit of talking 
sensibly and with facility on all subjects of general 
interest; and when in company with others, let the 



SOCIAL ETHICS, \tf 



topics brought up be those in which all are inter- 
ested. 

Avoid, especially, all gossip and scandal. 

Neither correct nor appear to notice an error in pro- 
nunciation or grammar made by a person with whom 
you are conversing. 

Do not try to force yourself into the confidence of 
others, nor pry into their private affairs by questioning ; 
but if they give their confidence, never betray it. 

Do not feel it incumbent upon yourself to carry your 
point in conversation ; and when avoidable, do not dis- 
cuss topics which arouse feeling and heated argument . 

Never parade your accomplishments, nor affect 
superiority in any particular. In the company of an 
inferior, never endeavor by your conversation or man- 
ners to cause him to feel other than your equal. 

In your conversation and conduct, adapt yourself so 
far as possible to the persons in whose company you 
chance to be (providing, of course, that you do not 
choose to throw yourself into low or disreputable com- 
pany) . Make it a rule to study the pleasure of those 
you are with, and listen to and talk about the subjects 
of conversation which most interest them. 

Never attract attention to yourself by loud talking 
or a dictatorial manner. Allude to personal affairs as lit- 
tle as possible, and do not parade the fact that your 
friends or family may be wealthy, of noble birth, or pos- 
sessed of any superior advantages. 

Never answer another curtly or impatiently, and 
never hesitate to offer an apology at once when one is 
due. 

Do not monopolize the conversation, nor engage in a 



158 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

whispered or private conference in the presence of others, 
or converse in a foreign language not known to all present. 

Never ridicule others ? nor seem to notice by word or 
look any peculiarity of dress or person of another. 

Do not read newspapers, books, or letters in company. 
If necessary to do so, beg to be excused. 

Avoid all slang. Do not laugh at your own wit. 

Avoid mimicry. 

Do not interrupt another while speaking. 

At Table. — Never lean upon the table with the elbow, 
or drum with the fingers, and do not toy with knife, 
fork, or spoon. Never make use of a napkin in place of 
a handkerchief, for wiping the face or nose. 

It is considered contrary to etiquette to shovel one's 
food into the mouth with a knife. Everything that can 
be eaten with a fork should be taken with that utensil 
alone. If necessary to use a knife, use it only for divid- 
ing the food, and convey it to the mouth with a fork. 

Bread should be broken, not cut. Use a spoon for 
soup and puddings. In eating large fruits, like apples 
and pears, divide the fruit with a knife, partaking of it 
in small portions. 

Keep the mouth closed while masticating food. Both 
eating and drinking should be performed slowly and 
noiselessly. 

If a plate be handed you at table, always retain it 
unless asked to pass it to your neighbor. It is to be 
supposed that the host knows whom he desires to serve 
firsts and to pass the plate is considered a reproof upon 
his selection. If a dish is passed you, serve yourself if 
desiring any, and then pass it on. 

The napkin should be placed across the knee, and 
not hung about the neck like a bib. 



SOCIAL ETHICS. 159 



Never reach across jour neighbor's plate for a spoon 
or other articles, but ask him to pass them to you. 

Do not take salt or bits of sugar from the bowl with 
the fingers, or help yourself to butter or other food with 
the knife or fork you have been using. 

Never pick the teeth at table. If such a thing be 
absolutely necessary for comfort, do it behind a napkin. 
Avoid sneezing, coughing, and expectorating if possible. 

A gentleman attending upon a lady at a dinner party 
will see that she is helped to all she wishes, with as 
little trouble to herself as possible. 

Do not find fault with the food ; and if by chance 
anything unpleasant is found in it, the attention of 
others should not be called to it either by remark or 
manner, even though one's own appetite be spoiled. 

Eat moderately, never fast, and never put large 
pieces of food into the mouth, as this is an evidence of 
greediness. 

Do not crumble bread or other food about your plate, 
and strive to keep the cloth as clean as possible. 

All beverages should be sipped from the cup or glass, 
but without noise. 

Never tilt back in your chair, nor sit too far from 
the table. 

Having finished the meal, if at home, fold your 
napkin, when done, and place it in your ring. If at a 
hotel or away from home, leave the napkin unfolded by 
your plate. 

Do not leave the table before the rest of the family 
without begging leave, except at a hotel or boarding- 
house. 

Do not scrape your plate for the last atom of food, 



160 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

nor tilt your sauce dish and turn out the last drop of 
juice into your spoon ; and do not help yourself to an 
unusual quantity of any single article. 

General Rules of Conduct — The same respectful 
deference due from a gentleman to a lady should at all 
times be shown by a younger to an elderly gentleman. 

When in the company of others, every action should 
be marked with respect for those present. 

Nothing can be more adverse to good manners than 
sitting with the hat on in the house, lounging upon the 
chairs, tipping them back on two legs, yawning and 
whispering in company, sitting cross-legged and hugging 
one's knee or foot, fumbling with the watch chain, biting 
or tearing the nails, taking the best seats in the room 
and keeping them when ladies or elderly people enter, 
standing between others and the fire, spitting into the 
fire, and various similar practices which are generally 
conceded to be characteristic of the free and easy way 
of the American people. 

Coughing, sneezing, clearing one's throat, scratching 
the head, picking the teeth, cleaning the nails, etc., 
should be avoided in company. Never fidget. If you 
are bored by the uninteresting conversation or lengthy 
speech of another, do not allow it to be apparent by any 
visible sign of uneasiness. 

Avoid loud talking and gesticulation. If necessary 
to indicate an object, do so by a slight movement of the 
whole hand or head, but never point with the finger. 

Neatness of attire and cleanliness of person are 
especially essential, if we desire to be considered agree- 
able in society. A person may have any amount of 
goodness and ability ; but if his appearance bespeaks 



SOCIAL ETHICS. 161 



the sloven, his presence will not be desirable to persons 
of refinement. Especial care should be taken of the 
hands. They may be stained and roughened by honest 
toil ; do n't be ashamed of that, but take off all that 
soap, warm water, and a good nail-brush will remove. 

Never exhibit the weakness of supposing that people 
of refinement will find your presence welcome or desir- 
able if your hair and clothing are saturated with the 
filthy odors of spoiled hair-oil and perfumery, to say 
nothing of tobacco, cigars, and alcohol, or a neglected 
skin. 

If one would be polite in public, he must be so at all 
times and with all persons. The man who is uncivil to 
a washer-woman or kitchen maid, will be in great danger 
of being impolite to those whose good opinion he desires 
to possess. 

Do not speak of persons outside the family circle by 
their Christian names, nor address them by such when 
in the company of others. 

In addressing persons, avoid undue familiarity, such 
as the use of nick-names, patting a person upon the 
back, etc., remembering the familiar rhyme, — 

" The man who calls you Tom or Jack, 
And proves by thumping on your back," etc. 

Treat the religious beliefs of others with the utmost 
respect ; and in talking upon religious topics, avoid cant 
and exhibitions of bigotry. 

Always hand a chair for a lady, pick up any article 

she may have dropped, and do any other little service 

she may seem to require, but do not press attention 

upon her. 

11 



162 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

If differing from another in opinion, do not directly 
contradict him, but courteously beg pardon, and say, 
"I think you have been misinformed," or " are mistaken," 
or in some like phrase modify the bluntness of a con- 
tradiction. 

Gentlemen should always precede ladies in entering 
a church or other audience room. 

The basis of all true politeness is the Golden Rule, 
" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do 
ye even so to them." 

A French writer has said, " To be truly polite, it is 
necessary to be at the same time good, just, and gen- 
erous." 

No true gentleman will use tobacco in any form, or 
indulge in alcoholic drinks under any circumstances. 
The use of these poisons is inconsistent with real gen- 
tility, and benumbs the finer sensibilities of those ad- 
dicted to them. 

Special Rules for Boys. — Always remove the hat 
upon entering a house. 

Never enter a private room or the room of a guest 
without knocking. 

Always offer your own seat to persons entering a 
room, and never keep a seat, either in a house, church, 
or public conveyance, when a lady or an elderly gentle- 
man is standing. 

Never slam doors. Do not run up and down stairs. 
Do not slide down the banisters. Step lightly, quickly, 
and orderly at all times within doors. 

Never be rude or boisterous to your sisters or play- 
mates. Avoid loud shouting and rude merriment ; never 
indulge in slang phrases, and never jostle nor push in a 
crowd. 



SOCIAL ETHICS. 163 



Always clean the boots or shoes well before entering 
a house or school-room. 

Never throw hat, coat, boots, or school-books about 
the room for mother or sisters to take care of; but have 
a place for everything, and keep everything in its place. 

Never go to the table or sit down in the presence of 
ladies with unkempt hair, soiled clothing, or muddy shoes. 

Always show as much deference at all times for 
mother and sisters as for any other ladies. 

Never elevate the feet upon tables, cushions, sofas, 
or chair backs. 

Never laugh at or ridicule a person in any way because 
of patched clothing, deformity of person, or peculiarity 
of any sort. 

Never stare at people, and never interrupt when an- 
other is speaking. 

Never try to appear clownish, nor use vulgar, in- 
decent language. 




Getting a Wife. 




■■m&- 



HIS is a question in which most young men 
sooner or later become interested, and which 
is worthy of the most careful and candid con- 
sideration. The formation of a partnership 
for life is a transaction of no small importance, 
and demands cool, deliberate judgment, and 
the careful weighing of numerous considera- 
tions, rather than rash obedience to the dic- 
tates of a blind and impetuous passion. Mar- 
riage is an institution which involves in the 
most important manner all the relations of life, physical, 
mental, moral, and social. The brief space which we 
have to devote to the subject compels us to confine our 
considerations chiefly to its physical relations. 

Relation of Marriage to Health. — It is clearly 
shown by the statistics of various countries, that married 
persons of both sexes enjoy longer life than single per- 
sons do. This is probably due, in the case of males, to 
the greater regularity of life and freedom from those 
disorders which are the penalty of those profligate habits 
to which a large proportion of single men are addicted. 
In the case of women, who incur greater risks in the 
marriage state than men, the longer life is probably due 
to the relief from mental strain and worry which most 

[164] 



GETTING A WIFE. 165 

women experience, especially in later years, though it 
must be admitted that quite too large a proportion of 
married women do not find in marriage that quietude 
and satisfaction which they have been led to expect. 
On the whole, however, there is no question that the 
tendency of marriage is to prolong life, and to conduce 
greatly to individual welfare and happiness when its 
ends are not perverted and its privileges abused. 

Traces of the marriage institution are to be found in 
the social usages of all nations, even the most barbarous 
tribes exhibiting some knowledge of the advantages to 
be derived from the establishment of the family relation. 
One of the distinguishing features of nations of the 
highest grade of civilization and intelligence is the high 
degree of regard in which the marriage institution is 
held. When a nation begins to deteriorate, oneofthe^ 
first symptoms of social degradation is neglect and 
disregard of marriage obligations. The growing infre- 
quency of marriage in this and some other civilized 
countries, and the increasing multiplicity of divorce cases 
which crowd the courts, especially in some parts of the 
United States, are evidences of disease in the social and 
moral life of nations, which demand the earnest attention 
of all workers for the good of humanity. 

The Object of Marriage. — The primary object of a 
union of the sexes is the propagation of the species. 
Marriage, however, involves much more than this. It is 
an institution peculiar to humanity, and, in its highest 
form, is characteristic of the most enlightened grade of 
humanity. It involves a union of other and far higher 
than mere sensual interests, — a union by which both of 
the contracting parties retain their individuality and all 



166 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

their individual rights, notwithstanding the community 
of aims and purposes which characterize a genuine 
matrimonial alliance. 

Men sometimes view their wives very much as they 
do fine houses, lands, horses, or other valuable posses- 
sions. It is needless to remark on the gross selfishness 
of this view of marriage. The natural, inalienable rights 
of every human being render it impossible for any one to 
become proprietor over another. There is no rite or 
ceremony, no law, human or divine, by which the natural 
rights of a woman may be abrogated in favor of a man. 
It is important in the interest of men as well as women 
that men should consider this fact, and grant to their 
wives as great liberty of conduct, opinion, and conscience 
as they themselves claim. 

A man who looks upon his wife as a mere chattel, or 
simply as a means of sensual gratification, entertains too 
base a view of marriage to be worthy of any woman, 
unless she is as gross and sensual as himself. While 
marriage gives opportunity for unbridled gratification of 
the animal instincts, morality and the recognition of the 
physiological objects of marriage, restrict such gratifica- 
tions within very narrow limits. The man who most 
thoroughly appreciates and enjoys the marriage relation, 
is he who restrains and controls the animal passions 
within the limits of physiological law. 

Who Have no Right to Marry ? — The idea that 
every man has a right to marry any woman who chooses 
to accept him as a husband, is a mistaken one. Two 
parties are mutually interested in the marriage relation, 
and each has rights which must be considered. It is 
evident that all men are not prepared to become desir- 



GETTING A WIFE. 167 

able husbands. This may be due to inherited or acquired 
defects and diseases, or to the possession of various 
other undesirable qualities. The man who marries, ex- 
pects, at least, to obtain a woman who will be a desir- 
able wife, and if disappointed, considers some one 
blame-worthy. A woman, in marrying, has an equal 
right to expect in a man desirable qualities as a husband. 
We do not say that a man, to be fit to marry, must be 
possessed of the highest grade of qualification ; but he 
ought, at least, to possess merits sufficient to be worth 
marrying. There is still another party whose interests 
must be considered, namely, the offspring. Under 
ordinary circumstances, a man who is incapable of 
begetting healthy children, ought not to marry. The 
world is full of the offspring of worthless fathers, and it 
is high time that the obligation of parents to beget 
healthy children was recognized as a moral duty, and 
the voluntary begetting of children infirm in body and 
mind, as a crime against humanity and civilization. But 
let us notice a little more particularly the qualifications 
of those who have no right to marry. 

Boys Should not Marry. — Though the laws of na- 
tions differ much respecting the age at which marriage 
is permissible, anatomy and physiology most emphatically 
assert that persons who have not attained complete 
physical development have no right to marry. The 
law of heredity stamps upon the offspring the image 
of the parent. If the father has not yet attained matu- 
rity, in other words, if he is still a boy in mind and body, 
his boyishness will be indelibly stamped upon his child. 
This fact undoubtedly accounts for at least a great num- 
ber of individuals, who, though old in years, exhibit 



168 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

such puerilities of character as to completely negative, 
in their cases as least, the adage, " Gray hairs bring wis- 
dom." A man who wishes to obtain a vigorous and 
hardy horse, would certainly not select one that he knew 
had been sired by a colt. Boys who contemplate mar- 
riage, ought to know that the same laws which govern 
the propagation of other members of the animal kingdom, 
hold good respecting the propagation of the human spe- 
cies as well, and should consider seriously whether the 
sons and daughters of a boy-father will be a valuable 
addition to the human race. 

When to Marry. — The age at which it is proper for 
a man to marry is indicated by that at which he attains 
maturity, which is about twenty-five years. Prior to 
this age, he is really a boy ; his bones have not yet com- 
pleted their development ; the character is not yet com- 
pletely formed through the development of the mental 
faculties, and the whole body is immature. Among cer- 
tain ancient nations, marriage was not permitted until 
some years later than the age named ; and it must be 
admitted that the people among whom this practice pre- 
vailed, attained a higher degree of physical development 
than any nation known to ancient or modern times. 

Old Men Ought not to Marry. — Perhaps this state- 
ment is a little too sweeping, but all intelligent persons 
who have had opportunity for observing the results of 
marriage in old men, will testify that in nine cases out 
of ten they are anything but desirable. This is espe- 
cially liable to be the case when the old man marries a 
woman much younger than himself. Nothing is more 
obnoxious to good sense, and we might perhaps say 
morality, than the union of an old man just entering 



GETTING A WIFE. 169 



•upon his second childhood with a young and blooming 
girl. Such a matrimonial alliance means, in most cases, 
speedy death for the one, and infinite misery for both. 
If the old man must marry, let him take a wife about 
his own age, who is prepared to lead a calm, quiet life, 
which is natural to the aged as well as essential for their 
physical, mental, and moral welfare. The old man who 
contemplates taking a young girl for a wife, should reflect 
that such an action is contrary to natural instincts, and 
that it is likely to be prompted by animal desires which, 
for his mental happiness and his physical and moral 
safety, should have been long ago extinguished. On the 
other hand, the young lady has probably been led to 
consent to such an unnatural union by the allurements 
of wealth, social position, or some other motive foreign 
to that real affection which constitutes the basis of true 
marriage. The relation which such a woman sustains to 
her legal husband in the eyes of natural, and, we may 
almost say, moral law, is that of a mistress rather than 
that of a wife. The old man who values his peace of 
mind, and who would avoid the unhappy fate of him 
whose gray hairs go down in sorrow to the grave, will 
wean' himself from the extravagant, and, for him, danger- 
ous excitements of love, and content himself with those 
mild and quiet enjoyments, which, while less fascinating 
and intense in character, are vastly more enduring, and, 
in the end, afford greater satisfaction. 

A JVorthless Man Should not Marry. — A man 
who " is good for nothing," who is unable to add any- 
thing to the world's store of knowledge or wealth, or to 
contribute to the happiness of his fellow-beings, who is 
slovenly, debased, groveling, shiftless, — such a man not 



170 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



only has no right to many, but commits a crime in doing 
so. What must be the lot of the wife of such a hus- 
band ! The woman who has been betrayed into marry- 
ing such a man, is condemned to a life the most wretched 
imaginable. Some such women we have seen, — women 
who, under favorable circumstances, might have been 
lights to society, who might have wielded a mighty 
influence in the elevation of their fellow-men, but who 
were bound hand and foot by the cruel ties of an unfort- 
unate marriage, chained to a worthless clod who is inca- 
pable of usefulness himself, and a most efficient hin- 
derance to the usefulness of others. 

The man who contemplates marriage and wishes to 
marry a good and worthy woman, should consider, first, 
whether he is himself worth marrying ; and if a candid 
introspection convinces him that he is not worthy of 
such a wife as he desires to marry, let him at once begin 
such a work of self-culture and discipline as will elevate 
him to the standard by which he would measure the 
woman he desires to win. 

A Wicked Man Should, not Marry. — Recent in- 
vestigations respecting the causes of crime have re- 
vealed the fact that the disposition to crime, as well as 
other mental and physical qualities, is hereditary. A 
man who is a thief, a robber, or a murderer, begets chil- 
dren with the same evil propensities. The intermar- 
riage of wicked and vicious persons has resulted in the 
production of what is known in every country as " the 
criminal classes." Through this means, notwithstanding 
the continued efforts of " reform schools," "homes," 
"asylums," and a great number of other reformatory 
enterprises, crime is continually increasing, and in a 



GETTING A WIFE. 171 

ratio far greater than the growth of the entire popula- 
tion. Something ought to be done to check this propa- 
gation of vice, this most efficient means of recruiting 
the class of men and women who oscillate between the 
brothel and the almshouse, the gutter and the prison. 
The marriage of such persons ought to be prohibited by 
law. It certainly ought to be discountenanced by 
society. The clergyman or the justice of the peace who 
knowingly performs a marriage ceremony by which a 
wicked man is made a husband and a possible father, 
does a wrong to society, the commission of which ought 
to annul his authority to administer so important a rite. 

Young men who have spoiled themselves by a career 
of vice or crime, are usually of all men most particular 
respecting the character of those whom they seek to 
marry, and are particularly fond of selecting for wives, 
young, pure, and unsophisticated girls, who know noth- 
ing of the evils or vices of the world. Sometimes such 
a union seems to result well enough, the influence of 
purity and virtue in the one predominating over the 
tendency to vice in the other ; but this is by no means 
universally the case. If the young woman, once pure 
and good, is not contaminated by contact with one who 
is thoroughly denied by sin, and gradually demoralized, 
her existence is one of perpetual wretchedness. Instead 
of those noble qualities of mind and heart which she 
might admire and respect, she finds only selfishness, 
sensuality, and moral rottenness. 

Young women are not infrequently led to marry men 
whose characters are known to be bad, with the idea 
that they may reform them. Sometimes, indeed, this 
Herculean task may be accomplished ; but quite too 



172 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

frequently the reformation, even if apparently accom- 
plished, is only transient, and the man who in the days 
of his courtship promised to be his wife's highest ideal 
of pure, noble manhood, lapses into the pit of moral cor- 
ruption where the vile practices of years have dragged 
liim. The young man who offers to a woman, as an 
inducement to marriage, the opportunity to reform him, 
is, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, a hypocrite of 
the deepest dye. A man who really wishes to reform, 
will reform himself; and until a thorough reformation 
has been effected, he has no more business to ask a pure 
woman to marry him than if he were suffering with 
the small-pox or the leprosy. The fact that there are 
women so unwise or so inexperienced as to be willing to 
accept such a man for a husband, does not remove the 
responsibility from the place where it belongs, on the 
shoulders of the man who has made himself, by his 
vices or his crimes, unfit and unworthy to be the hus- 
band of a good woman. 

Epileptics Should not Marry. — There are few forms 
of nervous disorders more horrible in their agency, or 
more certainly destructive of the mind, than epilepsy; 
and to the terrible effects of this disorder upon the 
individual is added the almost mathematical certainty 
of its transmission through heredity. An epileptic 
father or mother begets insane or epileptic children. A 
person afflicted in this way for many years should 
abandon all thoughts of marriage, even though the 
disease may be temporarily stayed through the influence 
of powerful remedies. If the disease has occurred as 
the result of some injury to the nervous system after 
maturity has been attained, or has been produced by 



GETTING A WIFE. 173 

functional disturbances of the stomach or liver, or from 
nervous exhaustion from some cause, and has been cured 
by the employment of the proper measures, the indi- 
vidual need not be forbidden to marry, provided the 
lapse of two or three years has proven the permanency of 
the cure ; but when the disease is the result of heredity, 
or has existed since early childhood, the prospect of a 
permanent cure is exceedingly small, while the probabil- 
ity of transmission by heredity in case children are be- 
gotten, is almost a certainty. 

Persons of Insane Temperaments Should not 
Marry. — Cases have undoubtedly occurred in which 
persons who were really insane have married and reared 
families, but there is probably no one who would defend 
the propriety of such a marriage. The children are 
apt to exemplify the old adage, " Like father, like 
son," and at an early age are found in our reform 
schools, prisons, or lunatic asylums. These cases are, 
however, not sufficiently common to be the source of 
any great amount of harm. The greatest danger lies in 
the propagation of a tendency to insanity through the 
marriage of persons possessing what is known as " the 
insane temperament." These individuals are generally 
found in families in which insanity has developed in one 
or more members. They are usually peculiar, crotchety, 
and eccentric. Familiarly known as " cranks," they are 
made the butt of ridicule. Their erratic utterances 
and conduct are laughed at by unthinking people, who 
consider them simply as amusing and peculiar people, 
entertaining no suspicion that in the crotchety brain 
of the crank lies the germ of that most terrible of all 
human maladies, insanity. The children of a crotchety 



174 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

man are likely to be still more unbalanced than him- 
self, and what is in the father simply an eccentricity, 
develops in the child into some one of the various forms 
of mania. 

The young man who is aware of the fact that insan- 
ity is a prominent feature in his pedigree, and who 
has not the most indubitable evidence that his physical 
and mental characteristics follow the line of a healthy 
and well-balanced ancestor, rather than that of the 
mentally disordered one, — such a man commits a crime 
when he takes upon himself the responsibility of mar- 
rying and bringing into the world recruits for prisons 
and lunatic asylums. 

Should Consumptives and Scrofulous Persons 
Marry ? — The rapid increase of consumption, as indi- 
cated by the mortality from this disease, which con- 
stitutes nearly one-fifth the total number of deaths in 
old-settled countries, points unmistakably to the fact 
that some potent cause must be in operation, causing 
the propagation of this malady. The observations of 
scientific physicians have fully established the view 
that the tendency to consumption, as well as the dis- 
ease itself, is hereditary, and the evidence that the 
same is true of scrofula is too strong to be doubted. 
When one considers the terrible ravages of these two 
constitutional maladies, can there be any doubt as to the 
impropriety of the marriage of those who have a clearly 
marked tendency to these diseases, at least unless 
such a tendency has been thoroughly extinguished by 
a careful regimen and a proper course of physical cult- 
ure? 



GETTING A WIFE. 175 



May Syphilitic s Marry ? — The horrible hereditary 
effects of this frightful malady ought to be sufficient to 
deter any one in whose breast all sense of obligation to 
his fellow-men has not been obliterated by long years of 
slavery to vice and crime, from incurring the risk of in- 
flicting such wretchedness and suffering as is almost 
certain to be experienced by his offspring. Certainly, 
no man who has suffered from syphilis has any right to 
offer himself in marriage to a woman who is not, like 
himself, contaminated by the physical and moral taint 
of this disease. 

Innocent and unsuspecting women often suffer life- 
long injury through marrying men who by fast lives 
have acquired gonorrhoea, or gleet. This disease, some- 
times even when apparently cured, or when existing 
in so slight a form as to be hardly noticeable in the 
man, may give rise to most painful and distressing 
disorders in a woman. We have met a number of 
cases in which women who, until the day of their 
marriage, had enjoyed perfect health, but since mar- 
riage had never been one day free from pain and suffer- 
ing from this cause. The author holds that a man who has 
suffered from even the milder forms of venereal dis- 
eases, has no right to marry without acquainting his 
intended wife with the full facts as to his condition, 
and then not until several months have elapsed since 
he has been pronounced by a competent physician to be 
free from the last trace of the disease. 

May a Drunkard Marry ? — The man who is a slave 
to drink has no right to ask any woman to share his 
shame, or to aid him in rearing children who are stamped 
at the moment of conception with a morbid craving for 



176 MAN, THE MASTEBPIECE. 

alcoholic drinks. The man who is determined to destroy 
himself with drink, should be content to destroy himself 
alone, and not insist upon dragging others down to his 
own degraded level. Hundreds of thousands of women's 
lives have been wrecked by being beguiled into marry- 
ing young men addicted to drink, by the promise of 
reform upon condition of doing so. In by far the 
greater number of these cases, six months do not 
elapse after the ceremony before the young man returns 
to his cups, and the young woman is left to repent her 
folly during a life of wretchedness. 

Should an Improvident Person Marry ? — Will any 
one question the assertion that a man who is not able, 
through mental or physical incompetency, to support a 
wife, has no right to marry ? Thousands of young men 
rush blindly into matrimony without stopping to think 
of the ways and means by which a family is to be pro- 
vided for, trusting to luck, or perhaps to the efforts of 
the wife, to provide bread for hungry mouths which 
they are themselves incompetent to feed. No young 
man has a right to marry until he has acquired a trade 
or a business which will insure at least a comfortable 
livelihood for those dependent upon him. The author 
is of the opinion that it would be wise if young men 
were required by clergymen and other parties authorized 
to administer the rite of- marriage, to produce evidence of 
the ability to support a wife and family before the per- 
formance of the marriage ceremony. 

Whom to Marry. — The young man who desires a 
wife will certainly not wish to select a young woman 
possessing any of the characteristics pointed out as 
undesirable in young men. As a rule, young men are 



GETTING A WIFE. iff 



far more particular respecting the personal character of 
those whom they seek in marriage than are young 
women. Nevertheless, impetuous though worthy young 
men not infrequently commit serious blunders in the 
selection of a life partner ; hence the following sugges- 
tions may prove serviceable : — 

1. Be careful to become well acquainted with the 
young woman whom your fancy may have chosen, be- 
fore asking her to become your wife. An acquaintance 
formed at a party, picnic, sociable, or during moon- 
light walks, or evening parlor chats, is of very little 
value in forming the basis for a proper estimate of char- 
acter. Young ladies who are in search of husbands, 
naturally do their best to appear to good advantage, and 
are very likely to appear so if the thing is possible for 
them, when on exhibition, as on such occasions as those 
referred to. A thorough knowledge of a young lady's 
character will necessitate a thorough acquaintance with 
her conduct at home, her behavior toward her parents 
or brothers and sisters, her personal habits, etc. Is she 
respectful to her parents and thoughtful of their wishes ? 
Is she kind and gentle in her behavior toward her 
associates ? Does she respect religion, or is she irrever- 
ent and irreligious ? Is she quiet or boisterous ? Is she 
haughty and overbearing ? Is she simple in her tastes, 
or does she love pomp, display, and excitement ? Has 
she pure, refined, and womanly sentiments, or is she 
flashy and vulgar ? Is she cheerful and happy in dispo- 
sition, or gloomy and morose ? Is she neat and tidy in 
personal appearance, or lax and careless ? All these 
are questions, the answers to which decide whether your 

12 



178 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

married life is to be happy or wretched, peaceful and 
enjoyable, or in the highest degree infelicitous. 

2. Do not marry a flirt. A young man who is 
seeking a wife should avoid, as he would a scorpion, the 
professional flirt. A woman who has made a pastime of 
breaking hearts, carries in her breast a heart as incapable 
of genuine love as the hardest rock. Do not waste any 
affection on such a woman, no matter how great her 
accomplishments, or how alluring her charms. If your 
feelings have become in the slightest degree entangled, 
make haste to effect your escape from the snare. Such 
a woman can no more make a happy home than she can 
fly. Her conscience is seared, her sensibilities blunted, 
her affections decayed. If you have been deceived by 
her, consider yourself fortunate in having escaped the 
greater calamity of marrying her. 

3. Do not marry a woman of fashion. A woman 
whose life is devoted to following the ever-changing 
fashions of the day, has no room in her heart for domes- 
tic love, and no time to devote to the business of home- 
making. She may possess many excellent traits, and 
many admirable qualities, but she has been spoiled by 
erroneous education. She knows nothing of the simple 
arts by which a home is made comfortable and happy ; 
and if you should be unable to supply all the demands 
of her morbid and artificial tastes, she will soon cease to 
love you altogether, and render your life wretched by 
her importunities or her reproaches. 

4. Seek a healthy wife. In this degenerate age, 
among civilized nations at least, health, especially among 
women, has become an exception rather than a rule; 
and so long as men are willing to accept as wives pale, 



GETTING A WIFE. 179 

puny creatures who, though very " interesting/' are very 
helpless when brought face to face with the stern realities 
of life, women will continue to attach little importance to 
physical culture as a preparation for wifehood and mother- 
hood; but if all the young men in the country insist that 
the young women whom they select as wires should pos- 
sess good health, gymnasiums for young ladies will quickly 
start up in every corner of the land ; piano thrumming, 
embroidery, daubing with water-colors, and sentimental 
poetizing will fall into disrepute ; the homely art of 
housekeeping will supplant some of the so-called fine 
arts which are now cultivated so assiduously by persons 
who have really no more taste or natural genius in this 
direction than a backwoodsman or a blacksmith; and 
young women will become as proud of depth of chest, 
largeness of waist, and hardness of muscles, as they now 
are of their small arms, petite figures, and general help- 
lessness. 

A young woman who has emasculated her woman- 
hood by tight-lacing and wearing French-heeled shoes, 
and who is given to fashionable dissipation, is no more 
fit to marry than she is to perform as an acrobat or a 
pugilist. No young man possessed of average good sense 
will marry a woman who has squeezed her liver out of 
shape, compressed her stomach out of place, and, to use 
a printer's phrase, made a " pi " generally of her " in- 
ternal arrangements " by tight-lacing. 

Do n't Be in a Hurry. — When " head over heels in 

*love," a young man is almost always in a desperate 

hurry to press his suit to a favorable culmination. 

Do n't be too fast, young man. Wait a little while for 

the impetuosity of the first tender passion to wear off. 



180 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Then you can take a calmer view of the case, and will 
be better prepared to form a deliberate and correct judg- 
ment. Love at first sight is very apt to be as blind and 
unwise as it is impetuous. Keep fast hold upon your 
feelings, and wait until sure that you will not be making 
a terrible mistake in following your impulses. The love 
which is most enduring is not one which is simply a 
sentiment ; but is the result of sentiment re-enforced by 
reason and judgment, deliberately exercised. Such a 
love does not wane with the honey-moon, but grows 
fuller, richer, and stronger with the lapse of years. 

What about Temperaments ? — Much has been said 
about the proper adaptation of temperaments in marriage. 
One recommends persons of like temperaments to marry; 
while another, who claims to be equally wise, declares 
that opposites constitute the proper combination. The 
only word we have to say on this point is that, irrespec- 
tive of temperaments, persons should be congenial. It 
is folly to lay down rules by which people should " fall 
in love." Such rules would never be followed, and 
would be very likely to cause more mischief than good. 
People whose tastes are unlike, if possessed of real 
affection for each other, will naturally approximate their 
tastes until a happy and congenial mean has been 
reached. It is wise, perhaps, that those who are consti- 
tutionally feeble should seek to remedy the defect for 
their children by selecting a partner possessed of a high 
degree of physical vigor. By this means, marriage may 
become the means of improving the race. The inter- « 
marriage of feeble persons would naturally tend to 
deterioration. 

Should Cousins Marry? — Experience indicates that 



GETTING A WIFE. 181 



the children of cousins are far more likely than others to 
be afflicted with deafness, idiocy, and other physical and 
mental defects. This is particularly apt to be the case 
if both possess the characteristics of a common ancestor. 
In view of this fact, it is evident that cousins ought not 
to marry, certainly not unless there is evidence of the 
most positive character that they follow different ances- 
tral lines. 

Lastly, if you wish to obtain a good, pure, noble, 
lovable woman for a wife, be careful to make yourself a 
good, noble, lovable man. If you do this, you may be 
sure that sooner or later you will have the good fortune 
to meet the woman who will exactly embody your ideal of 
a wife, and who will recognize in you her ideal of a 
husband. 




An Eyil Heritage. 




PHILOSOPHER has said, " To be well born 
is the greatest of human felicities." Un- 
happily for the human race, this good fortune 
comes to but a small proportion of the human 
family. Not every one is so unfortunate as 
poor " Pip," the hero of " Great Expecta- 
tions," who said that he was always treated 
as if he " had insisted on being born in op- 
position to the dictates of reason, religion, 
and morality ; " but certain it is that if reason, 
morality, and common sense were allowed to dictate the 
matter, many thousands of poor, wretched, unhappy hu- 
man beings would never have been born at all. Thou- 
sands of miserable beings received from their parents 
a heritage of boundless wealth in the line of lands, 
houses, and bank accounts, but the direst poverty as 
regards that most valuable of all treasures, health. 
The child who inherits from its parents a frail and 
feeble constitution, incompetent to cope with the ex- 
igencies of life, without the physical vigor necessary 
to sustain the effort required to prepare for or to lead 
a life of usefulness, has an evil heritage for which 
no amount of money, " good name," or worldly wealth 
can possibly compensate. On the other hand, the man 

[182] " 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 183 

who inherits from his parents a sound body and a 
large fund of vitality, may well consider his legacy a 
rich one, although he may be born in obscurity and 
left penniless. 

We have spoken of a good constitution ; let us con- 
sider for a moment what a constitution is. One man, 
we observe, is able to perform a great amount of labor, 
to endure hardships, to withstand the attacks of disease, 
and to live to a good old age in enjoyment of health and 
physical strength ; while another man wilts under phys- 
ical conditions far less adverse, like a delicate flower be- 
neath the scorching rays of the sun. One has a good 
constitution ; the other has a feeble one. The human 
body is in many respects much like a machine. Like a 
chain, its real strength is simply the strength of the 
weakest link ; or, like a complicated apparatus, its actual 
strength is the strength of the tiniest wheel, or the most 
delicate pinion. A machine constructed with all its 
parts properly adapted to each other, none stronger and 
none weaker than they should be, each capable of doing 
its duty regularly and without undue friction, — such an 
apparatus may be considered as a machine with a good 
constitution. It will many times out-wear a poorly con- 
structed or unbalanced machine, in which undue strain 
is allowed to fall upon parts not prepared to bear it 
safely. 

How Constitutions are Ruined. — That a boy inher- 
its from his parents peculiarities of temperament, com- 
plexion, expression of countenance, even peculiarities of 
gait, are matters of common observation. If a boy has 
an unusually large nose, a prominent chin, a special gen- 
ius for music, poetry, or mathematics, we expect to find 



184 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the same characteristics in his parents or somewhere 
among his recent ancestors. No one questions that 
these physical and mental traits may be readily trans- 
mitted from parents to children. "Like father, like son," 
is a trite proverb which applies to grandfathers and 
great-grandfathers, grandsons and great-grandsons, as 
well as to fathers and sons. If external features are 
thus transmitted, who can doubt that the internal like- 
ness between children and parents is equally as great ? 
In other words, can it be questioned that a father 
transmits to his son his quality of lungs, liver, heart, 
brain, and nerve, as much as his external form ? 

A father once brought to us a son for medical exam- 
ination. A moment's glance at the lad showed that he 
was a boy of feeble constitution. In reply to our ques- 
tion, " Was your son a healthy infant ? " the father re- 
plied " No ; he was such a puny baby we thought we 
could not raise him." And what wonder ? The reeking 
fumes of tobacco plainly told that the father was a to- 
bacco slave. The cigar or the quid was his constant 
companion during his waking hours. He said he was 
" tough as a knot." Never had a fit of sickness in his 
life. Could eat anything he liked, and usually did. Had 
smoked and chewed ever since he was a little boy, and 
" knew it did n't hurt him." It seemed to him very 
strange indeed that he should have for a son such a puny, 
dwarfed specimen as was the twelve-year-old lad whom 
he presented for examination. There are thousands of 
fathers who have just such sons, and thousands of sons 
who are so unfortunate as to have just such fathers. 

Some years ago a man in the prime of life applied to 
us for an examination of his heart. Investigation showed 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 185 

great irregularity. He complained of palpitation, sud- 
den faintings, and other very serious symptoms, which 
indicated great weakness of the heart. An examination 
with the stethoscope fully confirmed the evidence of the 
pulse and other symptoms. It was evident that he was 
suffering from narcotism of the heart, the result of to- 
bacco-using. When the true nature of the case was ex- 
plained to the patient, he at once exclaimed, "How is it 
possible that the small amount of tobacco which I have 
used should affect me so seriously, when my father and 
mother both used tobacco all their lives, and it did n't 
hurt them ? They are healthy old people now." Here 
was the secret. His father and mother had squandered 
their heart strength in tobacco-using, and the young man 
had inherited a weakness in this particular, which ren- 
dered it impossible for him to use the weed without 
speedily suffering serious consequences. 

Some Bad Legacies. — The transmission from parents 
to children of actual disease is perhaps infrequent ; but 
the transmission of constitutional weaknesses and ten- 
dencies to disease are exceedingly frequent. It may 
perhaps be questioned whether acquired morbid condi- 
tions are readily transmitted by heredity ; but no one 
who has been a close observer of men from a medical 
standpoint will hesitate to accede to the affirmative view 
of the matter. If further evidence than that which is 
presented by common observation were needed, it is 
afforded by a curious experiment made some years ago 
by Dr. Browne-Sequard of Paris. This celebrated 
physiologist, in the course of a series of experiments 
upon guinea-pigs, found that by irritating a very small 
spot in the brain of the guinea-pig, a disease was pro- 



186 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

duced which exactly corresponded to epilepsy in human 
beings. The general health of the animal did not seem 
to suffer greatly, but it became subject to those frightful 
convulsions which constitute the leading symptom of 
this most horrible of all nervous disorders. 

Continuing his observations, Dr. Browne-Sequard 
discovered that the disease was transmitted to the off- 
spring of the animals operated upon, proving beyond 
any possible question that an acquired disease or morbid 
condition may be transmitted from parents to children. 
Let us devote a little space to the consideration of some 
of these unfortunate inheritances. 

Consumption. — That consumption runs in families is 
a fact familiar to all. One of the first questions asked 
the candidate for life insurance by the examining officer 
is, "Did your father or your mother die of consumption?" 
No insurance company considers it prudent to insure the 
life of a man whose father or mother or any other near 
relative died of this disease. A consumptive tendency 
is one of the worst of the physical legacies which a 
child can inherit from its parents. With such an 
heredity, a man has ever staring him in the face the 
prospect of an early death, of being cut down by the 
great destroyer just as he is prepared to engage actively 
in the earnest duties of life. 

A tendency to consumption may be inherited from a 
father who was not himself a consumptive, and did not 
die of the disease. A man whose lungs are naturally 
strong and whose constitution is vigorous, by sedentary 
habits, by insufficient exercise, by confinement in poorly 
ventilated rooms, by a general neglect of the laws which 
govern healthy action of the lungs, may so weaken and 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 187 

deteriorate these important vital organs that their inher- 
ited weakness may be transmitted to his children. Thus 
a disposition to lung diseases of various types may be 
originated. 

Scrofula. — This hydra-headed malady, in many re- 
spects like consumption, is not only the result of direct 
transmission to children from diseased parents, but is 
frequently the result of other diseases which weaken the 
vitality of the parent, and produce constitutional feeble- 
ness. 

Scrofula is not, as is supposed by many, a disease of 
the blood, an impure humor which finds an outlet 
through running sores, skin eruptions, etc., but simply 
an unusual sensitiveness or vulnerability of the tissues, 
which renders them an easy prey to the various causes 
of disease, their resisting power being too feeble to 
maintain their integrity, when assailed by germs or 
other disease-exciting causes. 

This malady makes its appearance in the young in 
obstinate catarrh, discharging ears, sore eyes, enlarged 
glands, various skin eruptions, diseases of the bone, etc. 
All these are indications, not of impure blood, but of a 
weak and sensitive body, and declare more emphatically 
than words could express, constitutional feebleness, 
either natural or acquired, in the child's progenitors. 
Who are the fathers and mothers of such children? 
Sometimes, indeed, they are persons whose habits are 
measurably correct in many respects, though in other 
particulars such as are likely to weaken constitutional 
stamina; but in the majority of cases, the parents of 
scrofulous children are persons who are addicted to all 
sorts of excesses in diet and in many other respects. 



188 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Rich food, pastry, gross foods, such as swine's flesh in 
various forms, fat meats of other sorts, etc., pickles, and 
other indigestible viands, — these find a constant place 
upon the family table. The digestive organs of the 
parents are weakened and debilitated. The blood is 
impoverished, and the tissues suffer deterioration in 
consequence. Overwork, excessive nervous excitement 
or taxation, expenditure of the vital force in gross and 
unnecessary ways, — all these things produce a feebleness 
of body, which, though perhaps not so readily apparent 
in the parents, stands out in the child in bold and 
unmistakable characters. 

Weak Stomachs and Livers. — America is reputed 
abroad to be a nation of dyspeptics. Said an English 
physician to the author one day, while chatting in a 
pleasant drawing-room in London a few years ago, " I 
suppose, Doctor, in your practice in America, a large 
share of your patients are dyspeptics?" This unfavora- 
ble opinion regarding the American digestion is perhaps 
a little exaggerated ; nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true 
that fully one-half the entire population suffer more or 
less with digestive disturbances. 

Among the rising generation, in particular, it is diffi- 
cult to find a dozen young men among whom at least 
three or four are not confirmed dyspeptics. The almost 
universal use of " pills" speaks of the unhappy condition 
of the average American liver. Overburdened with 
sweets in the form of sugar, preserves, confections, and 
candies ; clogged with fats in the form of pastry, rich 
gravies, fat meats, etc. ; goaded by pepper, mustard, pep- 
per-sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and every other 
sort of burning thing called condiments ; gorged by 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 189 

habitual excess in eating or holiday gormandizing, — 
the poor organ, after struggling years to do its duty well,, 
abandons the task in hopeless despair, and settles down 
into that condition of stubborn debility called torpidity. 
The child of a man with such a liver is born with the 
same organ weak and torpid. Almost from the moment 
of his birth, the regular daily dose of castor-oil, or " Cas- 
toria," or some other abominable drug, begins ; and thus 
the inherited torpidity of the liver is rendered still more 
torpid. Is it any wonder that the child of such a parent 
grows up to manhood a chronic hypochondriac, a con- 
firmed misanthropist ? 

Disordered Nerves. — Visit the primary department 
of a large school. Look over the little faces turned up 
to the visitor, and observe how few of them do not show 
unmistakable evidence of an inherited debility of the 
nerves which threatens to mar the usefulness, and under- 
mine the happiness, and perhaps make entire shipwreck 
of a mind which, backed by a well-balanced body and 
sound nerves, might be capable of attaining to the high- 
est usefulness. The sparkling eyes, restless manner, 
abnormal irritability, or perhaps remarkable preeocious- 
ness, — all suggest that the. early maturity will be followed 
by an equally early decline, and that the individual's 
entire career will be marred by the evidences of impul- 
siveness and deficient judgment which are characteristic 
of so many young men of the present period. It is these 
forms of nervous excitability which produce the specula- 
tive disposition, and which incline a man to become a 
stock-broker or a dealer in "margins," or predisposes 
him to various crimes and vices, as intemperance, gam- 
bling, etc. 



190 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Some years ago a mother brought to us her son, a 
beautiful boy of six summers, who was suffering with 
that most terrible of nervous maladies, epilepsy . Almost 
daily the little fellow was thrown headlong upon the 
ground by his disorder, often injuring himself, some- 
times seriously, notwithstanding the careful and al- 
most ceaseless watching of his mother. Strict inquiry 
showed no cause whatever for the strange disease in the 
personal history of the child. The mother was a strong 
and healthy woman, but the father was excessively 
addicted to the use of tobacco and to some other vices. 
Here was a marked cause for the peculiar affliction of 
the child ; and yet the father was loth to believe that 
his indulgence in tobacco, liquor, etc., could possibly 
bear any relation to his child's misfortunes. 

Insanity . — Most distinctly hereditary in character is 
that other terrible malady of the mind, insanity. A 
father narcotizes his brain with tobacco, or excites it with 
alcoholic drinks, and the mother depraves her nerves 
by the habitual use of chloral or opium. Is it any 
marvel that the boy who happens into the world through 
such a parentage, shows symptoms of mental unbalance ? 
that his mind often trembles upon the brink of mental 
dissolution ? or that he ultimately ends his days in a 
mad-house ? The alarming increase of insanity has be- 
come so noticeable within the last quarter of a century 
that many eminent men have devoted themselves as- 
siduously to the discovery of the cause ; and still the 
problem is partially unsolved, and the great army of 
lunatics is yearly augmented in this country alone by 
insane persons sufficient to fill a city. 

Yet the asylums contain but a small portion of those 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 191 

whose minds are really disordered, and who can scarcely 
he considered perfectly sane. There are, unquestionably, 
many thousands of persons — border-liners, as an eminent 
nerve specialist has called them — outside of our asylums 
and insane hospitals, who are always hovering close upon 
the brink, full of idiosyncracies, whims, and oddities, and 
ready to be driven, by some slight circumstance, over 
the narrow line which divides them from the class of 
patients who are patently insane. 

Depraved Appetites. — A father uses whisky and 
tobacco regularly, year after year, until the poisons be- 
come fairly ingrafted into his body, and enter into his 
physical constitution. Is it any wonder that his chil- 
dren take as naturally to the use of liquor and tobacco 
as a duck takes to water ? Sometimes the appetite for 
these poisons is so strong that it is practically irresist- 
ible, and the poor victim, though much against his will 
and better impulses, is dragged down to a drunkard's 
grave, powerless to stem the tide which is sweeping 
him away to physical, mental, and moral destruction. 

Libidinous Blood. — Sensuality, or sexual gross- 
ness, is also one of the recognized and most deplorable 
results of bad heredity. The sons of the dissolute 
monarchs of Europe followed in the footsteps of their 
fathers' laws, not more on account of the evil example 
before them, than as the result of physical tendencies 
implanted within them by their sensual progenitors. 
Even the Bible affords examples of transmission of sen- 
sual tendencies from father to child through a long line 
of direct succession. The young man who, after at- 
taining to years of maturity, becomes a rake, may per- 
haps be less responsible for his lapse from virtue than 



192 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

those from whom he received the immoral bias and bad 
physical proclivity. 

A Way of Escape. — The victim of an evil inherit- 
ance need not despair, though he must struggle against 
obstacles which are planted in his very constitution. 
There is a way of escape if he will avail himself of it. 
Let us consider what may .be done to reverse the 
natural result of morbid tendencies : — 

1. The individual who has inherited morbid physical, 
mental, and moral tendencies, should acquaint himself 
with the real nature of his weakness, and earnestly set 
to work to fortify himself in that particular. If his 
parents have transmitted to him physical conditions 
which predispose him to consumption, let him carefully 
avoid every exciting and generating cause of that dread 
disease. While his body is still growing, let him pur- 
sue such a course of physical culture as will expand the 
chest, and develop the breathing powers to their fullest 
extent. Let him carefully avoid such exposures as are 
likely to produce catarrh, sore throat, cold on the lungs, 
etc. Let him carefully secure an ample supply of fresh 
air at all times. In the selection of a life occupation, 
let him avoid sedentary employments, such as book- 
keeping, teaching, and other occupations which require 
confinement in-doors, often in a vitiated atmosphere. 
Let him select some light but active muscular employ- 
ment which will take him largely in the open air ; and 
let him remember all through life that he has a weak 
point, that he cannot afford to run any of those risks of 
injury to his breathing organs which many others seem 
to incur with impunity. By this extra care, he may 
not only avoid the natural result of his constitutional 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 193 

tendency, but may so far eradicate it that in his 
children the weakness may be much less apparent, if 
not wholly obliterated ; and by a similar course on 
the part of each successor in the line of descent, the evil 
heritage may at last be wholly wiped out. 

In the same way, a scrofulous tendency may be kept 
in abeyance, and finally eradicated. A man whose 
heritage entitles him to life-long suffering with scrofulous 
maladies of various characters and various degrees of 
loathsomeness, may, by scrupulous attention to all the 
laws of hygiene, by means of which his vitality may be 
re-inforced and his physical stamina established, go 
through a long lifetime without realizing the results of 
his morbid inheritance, and transmit to his children a 
better constitution than that which he himself inherited. 
Such a person should carefully avoid excesses of every 
description, particularly excesses and errors in diet. 
The dietary should consist chiefly of fruits, grains, 
milk, eggs, and the better class of vegetables. Flesh 
food should be sparingly used, and gross animal fats 
should be wholly discarded from the dietary. An 
abundance of nourishing but simple food, such as may 
be easily digested and rapidly converted into good 
blood, should constitute the bill of fare of such an 
individual. Special attention should be given to cleanli- 
ness and exercise in the open air ; and temperance and 
moderation in all things should be assiduously practiced 
by such an individual. 

The young man who finds himself an inheritor of a 
weak digestion or sluggish liver, should scrupulously 
avoid all those causes which are recognized as efficient 
producers of stomach and liver disorders. Simplicity in 

13 



194 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

diet should be the rule of his life. The avoidance of 
sweets, fats, condiments, excesses in the use of animal 
food, and excessive eating, even of wholesome food, he 
should consider as binding upon him as the precepts of 
the moral law. He should lay down for himself the 
most rigid rules for the government of his dietetic prac- 
tices, and religiously adhere to them. By this means, 
the digestion may gradually be made stronger, and even 
inherited dyspepsia finally outgrown. 

The man whose inheritance is a weak nervous 
system, who has irritable or sensitive nerves, should at 
an early period in life set about caring for this part of 
his bodily organization by avoiding excesses of every 
sort. His stock of nerve force is low, and he must 
economize his expenditures in every possible manner. 
Extravagant drafts upon his nervous system should be 
most scrupulously avoided. By this means, he may 
hope to counteract the effect of the bad heritage, and 
save adding one more to the great army of sufferers 
from a wrecked nervous system, to be found in every 
civilized land. Such a person should above all cultivate 
evenness of temper, calmness of mind, coolness of judg- 
ment, and self-control. By the aid of such efforts as 
these, he may hope to keep at bay the multifarious foes 
which threaten to assail him in the guise of neurasthenia, 
or nervous exhaustion, and numerous forms of nerve 
disorders. 

The man who knows that he is born with a mental 
drift toward the mad-house, should industriously culti- 
vate a bias in the opposite direction. Let him avoid 
excitements of every description. Let him hesitate 
long before undertaking any enterprise which demands 



AN EVIL HERITAGE. 195 

severe and continued mental strain. Let him recollect 
that his physical machine has a weak spot in it, and that 
it must be run at a low pressure. He must learn to be 
quiet, to go slow, to be moderate, to take the world 
easy, and to keep cool. Such a man may go through a 
long lifetime without a mental breakdown, by the use of 
proper precautions ; whereas, if he neglects them, a 
sudden and unusual strain may at almost any time 
destroy his mental equilibrium, and send him to a luna- 
tic asylum. 

The Liquor Appetite. — A boy who is born with a 
natural taste for liquor or for the indulgence of other 
stimulants, should know that the natural liking for these 
poisons does not in the slightest degree lessen their 
injurious effects upon the body. The appetites them- 
selves indicate a morbid condition of the nervous system, 
which, while it produces an intense craving for stimu- 
lants and narcotics, renders the system less able to with- 
stand the deleterious effects which their use invariably 
produces. No man, no matter how strong his hereditary 
liking for stimulants, is absolutely compelled to resort 
to their use. If such a man will contend against the 
disposition with sufficient vigor, he may thoroughly mas- 
ter the morbid appetite ; the conflict may be a bitter 
one, but one who makes an honest and persistent fight, 
will be a victor in the end. 

The youth who finds himself the unfortunate inheritor 
of strong and clamorous passions, which, unrestrained, 
will lead him down to physical and moral death, certainly 
has before him a physical and moral conflict, compared 
with which the bloodiest fight in ancient Roman days 
was but a playful game. By nature, he is destined to 



196 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

be an easy prey to the siren voice of the tempter. For 
such, One has said, " My grace is sufficient for you." A 
life of temperance, sobriety, and purity will gradually 
subdue the evil demon ; but if physical means fail, relig- 
ion affords a source of never-failing strength to him who 
devoutly seeks its aid. 

Thus it appears that even he who is heir to disease, 
infirmity, and vice may by persistent efforts escape the 
dire calamities which are the natural results of the phys- 
ical bias of his constitution. 



Ho¥ to Maee Life i Success. 




jOO many boys, possibly the majority, grow up 
to manhood, and allow themselves to drift on 
through life without any definite purpose to 
make a success of anything, and, indeed, with- 
out any very clearly defined idea of what 
success really is. It is not for this class that 
we are writing. This chapter would probably 
do such persons no good. This is written for 
the benefit of those young men who aspire to 
real success in life, and who desire to leave 
behind them some mark to indicate that they have not 
lived in vain. 

What is True Success ? — First let us inquire, What 
is real success ? One mav answer, Success is to become 
the owner of a large farm well stocked with horses, cat- 
tle, and farm utensils, supplied with capacious barns, and 
ornamented by lawns and trees and a beautiful dwelling. 
In the estimation of another, the man who becomes the 
owner of a bank, and has vaults filled with gold and sil- 
ver, and thousands at interest with good security, is the 
really successful man. Still another considers him most 
successful who becomes famous as a lawyer, an orator, 
or a politician who attains to some eminent position in 
the State, and whose name is in everybody's mouth. 

[197] 



198 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

They who succeed in these various ways may be 
looked upon in a certain sense as successful; hut the 
possession of lands, or gold, or fame, or a high position 
in society or in the State, cannot be considered as true 
success. Indeed, to fail in the effort to secure some ends 
which are considered essential to success, may be far 
more successful than to succeed. Success in all the 
directions mentioned may be attained by ways and meth- 
ods by no means calculated to make a man happy in 
possession of that which he sought. For example, wealth 
is often obtained by dishonest means, by oppression, 
and by neglecting and ignoring the rights of others. 
Political honors are perhaps most frequently obtained 
by the employment of questionable means. Honor is 
often won by men who have secured it only by depriving 
others far more worthy than themselves of their lawful 
rights. 

True success can never be realized by a man who 
seeks for success alone. A man who has before him no 
higher aim in life than simply to attain success, will not 
be likely to succeed in the truest sense. Such a man, 
being actuated chiefly or solely by ambition, will be 
almost certain to descend to the employment of means 
for the attainment of the desired end which are incon- 
sistent with the character of one who truly succeeds. 

True success is never sought for, but comes as the 
glorious reward of a life spent in devotion to duty, the 
steadfast adherence to true and noble principles which 
in their triumphal march carry with them all who have 
given to them their full and true allegiance. The man 
who thoroughly succeeds, is he who finds his triumph 
in the victorious success of the principles to which he 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 199 

has attached himself. He may have endured hardships, 
braved dangers, and suffered persecutions ; but all along 
he has stood steadfast for what his manhood and con- 
science taught him to be right and true, never thinking 
of success, but only of his duty, and is at last rewarded 
by finding himself elevated to the galaxy of heroes. He 
finds his triumph in the triumph of the glorious truths 
to which he has so steadfastly adhered. 

All men are not so fortunate as to enjoy in this 
life the realization of what may be considered by the 
world as success ; but all may yet feel that life has 
not been a failure, but has instead been in the highest 
degree successful, if they have sturdily adhered to true 
and genuine principles, and have earnestly fought 
against error, vice, and sin in every form. 

It thus appears that a man who seems to be suc- 
cessful may not always in the truest sense have been 
such; while a man who seems to have made life a failure, 
may in reality have made it a genuine success. Again 
we say, the man who will make life a great success will 
not be he who works and lives for success alone, but he 
who seeks with earnestness and true loyalty to do his 
duty, always and everywhere to stand up for truth 
and pure principles. Such a man will himself be loved 
and respected for the principles which he upholds, and 
elevated to the topmost round of the ladder of real and 
genuine success. 

Have an Aim. — While the whole energies should 
not be devoted to the simple attainment of success, it is 
necessary that every person who desires to succeed in 
life should first of all possess some aim or purpose, some 
well-defined object toward which his efforts shall be 



200 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

directed. A man without an aim is like a ship at sea 
bound for no port or country in particular, and with no 
rudder, or no helmsman at the wheel, at the mercy of 
the winds and waves, and liable to be driven upon shoals 
and rocks, or stranded upon some strange and desolate 
shore. 

Singleness of purpose has been the characteristic of 
nearly every man who has made his mark in the world. 
Columbus, Napoleon, and Washington succeeded only 
through steadfast adherence to a single purpose, and the 
bending of every energy to the accomplishment of that 
object. It is of the greatest importance that the object, 
whatever it may be, shall be clearly defined. One who 
has simply a vague aim at something great, a vast mys- 
terious something, without definite outline or substantial 
form, is like a desert traveler following a mirage, or a 
marksman shooting at a fog. The aim should be 
definite, distinct, and sharply outlined, and must be suf- 
ficiently elevated and noble to call out the highest and 
noblest efforts of which the individual is capable. 

It must be premised, however, that the aim shall be one 
within the possible reach of the individual. Every man 
cannot be a president, a governor, or a silver-tongued 
orator ; and it would be a misfortune if every boy or 
young man should build up in his imaginary future a 
presidential or a gubernatorial palace. Indeed, it is 
quite doubtful whether it is best for any one to start out 
in life with the distinct purpose of seeking political pre- 
ferment or official position. The professional politician 
is almost necessarily a wire puller,— a purchaser of 
votes, and a purveyor of official perquisites. No man 
of high and noble instincts can afford to devote his life 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 201 

to the business of running a political machine or 
manipulating caucuses. Let the general aim be to be a 
good citizen, a useful member of society, a genuine man, 
and as much more as circumstances and opportunity 
may permit. 

Concentration of Purpose. — Having selected an ob- 
ject worthy of one's best efforts, let a man devote his 
whole energies to its attainment. Let him, with true 
singleness of purpose, seek by every legitimate means 
to secure the accomplishment of the purpose upon which 
he is determined. If patient, laborious preparation is 
required, let him unflinchingly devote himself to the 
work. If moral courage and mental firmness are the 
requisites, let him fortify his soul for the conflict. Let 
him not weaken his strength by dividing his energies 
among divers conflicting matters ; in other words, do not 
try to grasp too much at once. In so doing he may 
fail entirely. The power of concentration is one of 
the most difficult attainments of all mental qualities. 
The ordinary mind is readily diverted by new scenes 
and objects of interest; but the mind which has un- 
dergone the discipline essential for the attainment of 
true success, fixes itself upon the single object with 
a grasp so firm that nothing but death can release its 
hold. 

Perseverance. — We need not dwell upon the need 
of perseverance for the accomplishment of any great 
purpose. The great number of human beings whom 
we see all about us, who have failed to make life a 
success, have, in the great majority of instances, been 
driven from the road which leads to sure success by 
the shifting winds of vacillation. Yet most of them 



202 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

have been once well started upon a promising road, but 
have been driven from the safe highway into the mazes 
and quagmires of uncertainty by some will-o-the-wisp 
of great expectations, brilliant and alluring in the dis- 
tance, but vanishing in thin air when just within hand 
reach. Nevertheless, a simple, plodding sort of dogged, 
unreasoning perseverance must not be considered a sure 
passport to success. 

The old adage, " Let well enough alone," is probably 
quite as often misapplied as otherwise, as there are 
plenty of people who do not know what " well enough " 
is. Some are well content with the most meager meas- 
ure of success ; while others are never satisfied even 
with the most bountiful harvest or the most generous 
returns from their labors. And that other old adage, 
" A rolling stone gathers no moss," is equally liable to 
harmful application; for the man who stupidly pecks 
away all his life in a barren hole in the hill-side, in the 
hope that he may strike a vein of rich ore if he perse- 
veres long enough, is certainly no more likely to succeed 
than the one who hurriedly skims along the surface, 
turning up a clod here and overturning a rock there, 
but never stopping long enough in one place to discover 
the precious metal, even though it may have been hid- 
den from his eyes by but the merest film of earth. If 
after an honest effort to succeed in any direction, the 
obstacles presented prove to be really unsurmountable, 
better turn at once to something more promising than to 
beat one's brains out against the dead wall of impossi- 
bility. 

Thoroughness, — " Whatever is worth doing at all, 
is worth doing well," is an old adage, the truth of which 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 203 

has never been denied, although now and then, it must 
be confessed, an apparent success may be obtained by 
the most imperfect and superficial work. In many 
respects, the American people are far inferior to those of 
some other nationalities in the execution of enterprises 
specially requiring the exhibition of this trait of character. 
The average American loves to accomplish the desired 
end by one supreme effort, by a grand, dashing display 
of his powers. The phlegmatic German, however, sits 
down to his task, quietly gathers about him the means 
by which it is to be accomplished, efficiently and me- 
thodically develops each feature of his work, and finally 
presents it a perfect and complete whole, symmetrical 
in all its particulars, and a model for all workers in the 
same line who may succeed him. Place the product of 
his genius along-side that of the brilliant, dashing 
worker. The contrast is that of a marble statue chis- 
eled by a Carnova or a Michael Angelo, compared with 
one of the rude wooden images set up in the roadside 
chapels of an Italian highway. 

Napoleon won his great battles by his thorough 
attention to all the little details of preparation. He 
anticipated every possible contingency, and was prepared 
for every emergency. So it is in the battle of life ; the 
habit of giving earnest attention to details, of " taking 
pains," even in the doing of things seemingly of trivial 
importance, will often secure the prizes which the 
brilliant but hap-hazard and irregular efforts of others 
may fail to reach. 

Yet it must be conceded that even this quality may 
be so greatly exaggerated as to become an impediment 
to progress, rather than an aid to success. The man 



204 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

who spends all his energies in elaborating and perfecting 
non-essential details, is like the man who busied himself 
in driving the cows out of his garden to save his cab- 
bages, while his dwelling-house, with its valuable con- 
tents, was being consumed by fire. 

Faithfulness, — Reliability, even in matters of small 
consequence in themselves, has often proved the stepping- 
stone to rapid advancement and business prosperity for 
young men who could boast no special talent, and pos- 
sessed no special qualification for the place they were 
called upon to fill. Merchants, bankers, and business 
men of every rank are daily inquiring for young men 
who can be relied upon, and in whose hands important 
trusts may be reposed without danger that they will be 
betrayed. The want of this characteristic is what leads 
to the shameful defalcation of bank cashiers and presi- 
dents, and the general feeling of distrust and insecurity 
which has arisen from the great commercial panics grow- 
ing out of the dishonesty of men in whose hands great 
pecuniary trusts have been placed. Any young man, 
no matter how meager may be his natural abilities, if he 
will improve his opportunities, may win for himself a 
useful and an honorable place in society by the unwaver- 
ing cultivation of trustworthiness. 

Be Practical. — Half the bad failures in life are due 
to a want of practical ability, of that combination of 
traits of character which enables a person to discriminate 
between useful things and those which are of no conse- 
quence ; between things of great import and those of 
trivial importance ; to determine promptly what is best 
to be done in emergencies, and to be able to adapt one's 
self with readiness to changing circumstances. The 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 205 

visionary dreamer never succeeds, because his whole 
energies are devoted to the elaboration of schemes 
which can never be carried out, and which, if they could 
be, would be of little or no practical value to the 
world. 

In the patent offices at Washington may be seen many 
thousands of ingenious mechanical devices, not one in 
a hundred of which has ever been put to any practical 
use, and never will be seen outside the rooms where they 
are stored for exhibition. Most of these are the re- 
sult of days, months, and even years of labor on the 
part of men whose inventive faculties ought to have 
enabled them to render valuable service to their fellow- 
men ; but which, unfortunately, not being balanced by 
the necessary qualities to render them of practical value, 
have been squandered in the invention and construction 
of machines for doing what nobody ever cares to have 
clone, or what can be accomplished by much simpler 
and better means. Every neighborhood has its per- 
petual motion maniac, who ought to serve as a living ex- 
ample to all to whom he is known, of the futility 
and folly of spending time and efforts in trying to ac- 
complish impossibilities. 

The term usually applied to practical ability is 
" common sense." Every one is supposed to have a share 
of common sense ; but our experience with the world 
has led us to the belief that this is of all mental 
qualities the rarest, and would be more properly 
termed "racommon sense." Fortunately, it is a qual- 
ity which can be developed, though the man must be 
considered fortunate indeed who inherits a large share 
of this element in his mental make-up. Persons who 



206 MAN, THE MASTEHPIEOE. 

have common sense always reason about things. They 
never act without considering the why and wherefore 
of what they are about to do, and are continually in- 
quiring the reasons for what they see transpiring about 
them. A large fund of common sense is of vastly 
more value to any man than the most finished course 
of instruction at a university ; and one who is lacking in 
this essential quality will find that no amount of " book 
learning" is a substitute for it. 

Learn by Experience. — All persons, even the wisest 
and most cautious of men, will sometimes make mis- 
takes, but the wise man takes care that he does not 
frequently repeat the same error ; while the man who 
is lacking in the quality which we have termed com- 
mon sense, goes on committing the same blunder again 
and again, utterly regardless of the consequences which 
his experience has told him will invariably follow. A 
philosopher once said, " Experience keeps a dear school, 
but fools will learn in no other." Unfortunately, there 
are those who will not learn even by experience. 
When we find that we have made a blunder, we should 
carefully consider the causes which have led to the 
calamity. When discovered, they should be carefully 
noted in our minds, and due care should be observed 
that we do not fall into the same error a second time. 

Many things we may learn and must learn by per- 
sonal experience. Some, perhaps, cannot be so well 
learned in any other way ; but life is too short to 
enable us to try every experiment possible, and we 
can ill afford to suffer the loss which would result by 
the constantly recurring blunders of a life wholly de- 
voted to original experiment. Hence, it is wise for 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 207 

us to profit, as far as possible, by the experience of 
others whose lives may have fallen in the range of our 
observation. He is certainly a wise man who will ap- 
propriate to himself, so far as possible, the experience 
of his fellows and his predecessors ; and, thus equipped, 
with the accumulated knowledge of the world, he will 
be able to accomplish vastly more, and do his work far 
better than one who trusts simply to the uncertain re- 
sults of his own individual experience. 

Genius and Luck. — How often do we hear the re- 
mark, " He was a genius," " He was bound to succeed," 
or " What a lucky man he was ! " It is a mischievous 
popular error that genius and luck are the two magic in- 
fluences which have enabled the majority of successful 
men to rise so far above their fellows in the particular 
lines in which they have attained eminence. It is not 
to be denied that some men are specially adapted for cer- 
tain walks in life. Then it is certainly a matter of im- 
portance that each one should, if practicable, occupy 
the position to which he is best adapted, and in which 
he is most likely to succeed; but those who have 
given the greatest amount of study and thought to this 
question, are unanimous in the opinion that the qual- 
ities which constitute genius are by no means uni- 
formlly extraordinary brilliancy of intellect, but far more 
commonly consist in an unusual ability and disposi- 
tion for close and continual application. A man of 
genius succeeds where another man fails, not simply be- 
cause he has greater intellectual powers, but because he 
applies his mind to the subject which he has in hand 
with greater intensity, and pursues it with greater per- 
severence and more searching, penetrating thought than 
his unsuccessful colleague. 



208 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

So with luck. So-called luck rarely consists simply 
in the occurrence of favorable circumstances ; but far 
more frequently the secret consists in the fact that when 
the particular circumstance occurred, which was thought 
to bring the fortunate man luck, he was prepared to em- 
brace the opportunity, and make the most of it, while 
his unsuccessful rival was engaged in a preliminary 
preparation without which he could not avail himself of 
the opportunity offered. The lucky man is not the man 
who, like " Micawber," is waiting listlessly for " some- 
thing to turn up," but the man who is industriously prepar- 
ing himself for anything that may turn up, and persist- 
ently working to turn something up whereby he may 
succeed in accomplishing the purposes at which he aims. 

Promptness and Energy. — Whatever you undertake 
to do, put your whole soul into it. The world is full of 
half-hearted men, — men who are not quite 'certain wheth- 
er they are wide awake or dreaming, — men who have 
latent energies sufficient to raise them to the loftiest 
hights of human greatness, but whose dull sensibilities 
allow them to lead lives scarcely higher in their aims 
and purposes, and little more effective in their results, 
than those of the dumb brutes, beside whom they toil in 
the fields and along the highways. It is easy enough to 
drop into this great army of creeping human animals, 
whom the energetic but inhuman Napoleon pronounced 
" food for powder." He who aims at a higher and better 
life, — a life crowned by victories achieved and triumphs 
won, must rouse every energy and summon every latent 
power within him, and plunge into the arena of life with 
an unfaltering determination to conquer something or die 
in the struggle. It requires no effort to float like a cork 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 209 

upon the tide of human life, or sink like a leaden weight 
beneath its surface ; but to brave the seething flood and 
stem the mighty current, demands a stout heart and a 
steady nerve. 

Economy. — A man who has reached forty years of 
age and has not acquired a competency, that is, has not 
laid up an amount sufficient to provide himself and family 
with the necessaries and comforts of life, with a balance 
in store for emergencies and illness, has either been a 
victim of serious and unusual misfortunes, or he has been 
a spendthrift or a sloven. The amount of wealth which 
a healthy man is able to accumulate each year is sufficient 
to amount, in twenty years, to a-sum large enough to 
pay for a comfortable home, besides covering the ex- 
penses of living, even though the individual is able to 
earn only the wages of a common laborer. In a vast 
number of instances, poverty is the result, not of mis- 
fortune, but of unthriftiness. We frequently see poor 
persons who are very industrious in their habits and who 
command good wages, and yet are always in poverty. 
These persons, as well as others who have an abundance 
of wealth, are almost invariably spendthrifts of time, 
money, and health. All of these are valuable posses- 
sions, which we should treasure with care. Time is val- 
uable because it is equivalent to money. If not uselessly 
spent, it may be employed in such a manner as will pro- 
duce something for the good of the individual or for the 
benefit of the world ; hence it is our duty to spend our 
time in such a way as will enable us to accomplish the 
most for ourselves and for others. The waste of time is 
one of the most common of all squanderings. So often 

we hear an individual say, " My time is my own, I can 

14 



210 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

do what I please with it ; " but we are responsible for 
our time. Each moment should be profitably employed, 
not necessarily in working always, but in such a manner 
that it will in some way result in value to ourselves or 
to some one else. 

Money is often wasted in the purchase of things which 
we really do not require. Probably three-fourths of all 
our expenditures are not absolutely needed for either 
health or comfort. We spend most of our money for 
luxuries which do us harm rather than good, and thus 
occasion a double waste. 

Lastly, we mention the waste of health, which is a 
far more serious matter than the simple waste of money. 
Money squandered may frequently, by painstaking effort, 
be regained. Health squandered, can in many cases 
never be fully restored. The waste of health is one of 
the most inexcusable of all wastes. For a few moments' 
pleasure in the harmful indulgence of appetites or pas- 
sions, we receive in exchange hours, days, months, years, 
a lifetime of misery and suffering. Health is one of the 
choicest of our possessions, one of the most essential to 
the enjoyment of all our other faculties and blessings; 
hence it should be highly prized and carefully guarded. 

True Merit Wins. — We meet people every day who 
are complaining that the world does not appreciate them. 
Their friends fail to recognize their abilities, according 
to their view of the matter, and they are not afforded 
the opportunity for displaying their talents which they 
deem they ought to have. These persons have been 
very truly called " chronic grumblers." The merits 
which they possess, as a rule, are present in their own 
imagination alone. If they have any special ability, 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 211 

their anxiety that they should be appreciated and recog- 
nized so disgusts those with whom they come in contact 
as to prevent such a recognition. If, after giving the 
world a fair chance to form a judgment of our abilities, 
we find no recognition of the special claims to distinc- 
tion on our part, we should feel pretty well convinced that 
we have been duped by our own self-complaisance, and 
that we have no such extraordinary merit as we had 
come to believe. In the long run, and in the majority 
of instances, the world puts a man where he belongs. 
If a man has true merit, some person or some circum- 
stance will find him out, and bring him to the front. He 
has only to bide his time, patiently developing his 
talents and enlarging his resources ; and when the proper 
time comes, he may depend upon it there will be a place 
for him. Nothing affords a more unpleasant spectacle 
to people of common sense than a man of meager abili- 
ties elbowing his way through the world, running hither 
and thither, proclaiming to the world his talents, and 
begging that he may be recognized, and that room may 
be made for him in some position for which he imagines 
he is peculiarly fitted. The world is naturally, and 
very properly, suspicious of such persons, and they 
should not take it hard if they are now and then severely 
snubbed. It usually takes a large amount of snubbing 
to convince these pretentious and pompous blusterers 
that there is an essential difference between " brass " 
and brains, or that a man may have a great amount of 
" cheek " with very little intrinsic merit. 

Self- Respect. — Few traits of character are more 
repugnant to the refined and cultivated taste, and more 
opposed to genuine good sense, than overweening con- 



212 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

ceit, or self-esteem ; but self-respect is a quality of char- 
acter which excites respect in others, and it may be said 
that the amount of respect ordinarily accorded an indi- 
vidual will be largely in proportion to his own respect of 
himself. Self-respect and conceit are two very different 
traits of character. Conceit leads an individual to think 
himself to be something more than he is. In his own 
estimation, his qualities are exaggerated to a degree 
often positively ludicrous. Self-respect, on the other 
hand, leads a person to fairly estimate his own qualities, 
rather underrating them than otherwise, but leads to a 
knowledge of his own qualifications and real merits ; 
and his genuineness of purpose, and self-reliance will 
constitute the most essential elements of his success. 
Without self-respect and a degree of confidence in one's 
abilities, one's course in life is apt to be cowardly and 
vacillating. A healthy self-confidence is one which is 
the result of a thorough recognition of the thing to be 
attained, of the means and efforts required for its at- 
tainment, and the consciousness of an honest and thor- 
ough preparation for the undertaking. 

Self-respect is one of the most powerful incentives 
to virtue and purity of life. That was a noble reply 
made by the lad who was tempted by another to commit 
a wrong act by the plea, " No one will know it," " But, 
sir, I shall know it myself." The consciousness and 
self-condemnation of wrong doing is to a man with large 
respect a very powerful protection from it. Cultivate 
self-respect by avoiding most carefully every act or 
thought which lowers your own esteem of yourself when 
you sit in judgment upon your, own heart and life, and in so 
doing you will make yourself worthy of the esteem and 



HOW TO MAKE LIFE A SUCCESS. 213 

respect of others, and you can depend upon it that your 
true value will be in due time appreciated. 

Genuine Gentility. — Last, but not least, we mention, 
as an essential element of real success, the character 
and the manners of the true gentleman. We do not 
propose to lay down specific rules for conduct, but to 
urge the importance of cultivating civility and courtesy 
of manner toward others. The boy who is gentle and 
kind of heart, no matter how rough his exterior, will be 
regarded by those with whom he comes in contact, 
with kindly feeling, which is always inspired by real 
purity and genuineness of character. The place for a 
boy to begin to cultivate true courtesy and gentleness 
of manner is at home. Respectful deportment toward 
his parents, kind and gentle treatment of his brothers 
and sisters, and a courteous manner toward all, under 
all circumstances, if assiduously cultivated at home, will 
establish a charm of manner which will accompany the 
individual through his entire life, and will constitute a 
very important element in leading him to that success 
which a person who adopts these suggestions, most 
highly deserves. A man whose manner is suave and 
affable, makes friends even of his enemies, and at once 
disarms prejudice by the evidences which his outward 
manner gives of real gentleness of heart. A fawning 
sycophancy of manner is wholly unworthy of any one 
who claims to be a gentleman; but real courtesy is 
always becoming in all persons and under all circum- 
stances. 

Boys are apt to think that while they should be 
courteous to strangers, with their relatives and friends, 
and especially their school-mates and " chums," they may 



214 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

neglect the little courtesies and civilities which they 
would promptly accord to a stranger. This is a very 
great mistake. This very neglect often leads to the de- 
struction of friendships which have existed for years, 
and might have been life-long, and frequently gives rise 
to hardness and even bitter enmity. Besides, in order 
that one should possess that grace and charm of manner 
which a true gentleman exhibits, he must keep in con- 
stant practice, by treating all his associates with the 
same kindness and civility with which he would treat 
them if meeting them for the first time as strangers, upon 
whom he might wish to make a favorable impression. 




Stomachs. 




N eminent zoologist defines an animal as "a 
stomach with various organs attached." The 
definition is a very good one, and perhaps ap- 
plies equally well to some men; but a human be- 
ing ought to be something more than a stomach 
with other organs attached. The business of 
the stomach, as we have elsewhere seen, is 
to supply the body with the needed material 
to renovate its tissues and its energies. As 
soon as the stomach fails to do its duty, the 
whole body begins to decline. Every tissue begins 
to suffer from starvation. Every bodily process flags. 
The muscles become flabby, the nerves become irritable, 
the brain becomes confused, and the mental powers 
languish. The stomach is to the body what the furnace 
is to the steam-engine. It receives the supplies of 
material out of which blood, brain, and muscle are 
formed, and which, through the wonderful chemistry of 
nature, are elaborated into thoughts, feelings, actions. 

Importance of Proper Food. — The old German 
proverb, " As a man eateth, so is he," is an exact state- 
ment of a scientific fact. If a man eats gross food, his 
blood will be gross, his tissues will be gross, his brain 

[215] 



216 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

will be gross, and lie will have gross thoughts, and very 
likely will commit gross acts. The Concord philoso- 
pher says, " The man who lives chiefly upon hog is in 
danger of becoming piggified." The young lady who 
lives chiefly upon pickles and bread and butter, with a 
liberal supply of mustard, washed down with strong tea 
or coffee, must be expected to have a temper as acrimo- 
nious as her diet. A man whose ' bill of fare consists 
chiefly of flesh food, must expect to find himself more 
nearly related to the animal in his instincts than the 
man who satisfies his palate with milk, fruits, and far- 
inaceous seeds, — the primitive diet of the human family. 
Byron refused to eat flesh because, as he said, "It 
makes me ferocious." Writing in his journal in 1814, 
he said, " Meat I never touch. . . . The worst is, the 
Devil always comes with it till I starve him out ; I will 
not be the slave of any appetite." No man knew better 
than Byron, a man of strong appetites and passions, the 
influence of diet upon both mind and body. Many have 
recognized the same truth which he expressed, but com- 
paratively few have shown the same resolution in mak- 
ing a practical application of it. 

The man who wants to make the most of himself 
will take care that his body is built out of good material ; 
in other words, will use discretion as regards the sort of 
stuff he puts into his stomach. The Hebrews could 
make brick without straw much more successfully than 
the system can make good brains out of strong coffee, 
Saratoga chips, and fried sausage. 

The bustling business man sits at a table in a 
down town restaurant, calls for a bill of fare, rattles off 
an order to the waiter, and presently finds himself sur- 



STOMACHS. 217 



rounded with a dozen dishes containing as many varie- 
ties of abominable mixtures called " French cookery." 
which he supposes his stomach will convert into material 
for brains, with which he will be able to devise sharp 
schemes for money-getting, and which will again convert 
brains into dollars. But the transmutation does not 
take place according to his calculations. Half an hour 
after dinner his abdomen swells up like a base drum, 
his cranium feels like a cabbage head, his heart pounds 
away like a fire-engine, and he runs off to the doctor 
to get him to feel of his pulse, look into his eyes, and 
tell him if he is n't going to have a stroke of apoplexy, 
or if he is n't threatened with softening of the brain, 
from too much mental work, and if he had not better 
take a trip to Europe or visit some celeorated mineral 
spring, with a taste of sea water and a smell of perdition. 
If the doctor has the good sense and the bluntness of old 
Dr. Abernethy, he will say to him, " You are a fool and 
a glutton. Stop stuffing yourself with roast goose and 
cranberry sauce, fricasseed liver, pig's feet and pate cle 
foie gras, and making a gormand of yourself. Treat 
your stomach decently, and your brains will be all right." 
Not Worth Eating. — When one sits at a hotel 
table, and observes what sort of stuff people are trying 
to makes bones, muscles, and brains out of, he is con- 
strained to think that a human stomach must be made of 
cast-iron, or that there is a day of trouble and retribu- 
tion coming. If you ask any of those people if they 
ever suffer with indigestion, they will invariably reply 
with indignation in their tones, " Never T Watch the same 
people after dinner for half an hour, and you will see 
them gulping up offensive gases out of their stomachs, 



218 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

drinking noxious draughts of alkaline mineral waters at 
the drug store, or swallowing big doses of some neutral- 
izing cordial, never once thinking that the indigestible 
stuff which they bolted at the dinner table has anything 
to do with the horrible state of affairs under their 
jackets. Some years ago an itinerant clergyman, trav- 
eling through a Western State, spent a night with a 
farmer, and in the morning sat down with the rest 
around the breakfast table, to prepare for the long 
horseback journey which lay before him. The host 
invited him to ask a blessing upon the food about to be 
eaten. The reverend gentleman glanced over the table, 
taking a mental inventory of the food prepared for the 
dozen hungry mouths awaiting it. There were hot bis- 
cuits steaming from the oven, semi-transparent with 
lard and yellow with saleratus ; there were savory mince- 
pies, rich preserves, pickles green as grass, coffee black 
as ink, fried pork, fried eggs, fried potatoes, and a gen- 
erous supply of fried cakes on the sideboard. Pausing 
a moment, after his survey of the indigestible viands, 
with a solemn voice the clergyman said, " Friends, this 
breakfast is not worth a blessing," and concluding that 
a breakfast not worth a blessing was not worth eating, 
he went on his journey without it. The farmer doubt- 
less considered the blunt preacher a very ungrateful 
guest, and it is doubtful whether the lesson was of any 
practical value to him ; but certain it is that a great 
share of the breakfasts and dinners eaten are not fit to 
be blessed or to be swallowed. 

Food, to be worth eating, must consist of such 
material as will properly nourish the body, and in such 
form as will be easily digested. It is also necessary for 



STOMACHS. 219 



the welfare of the body that the food should consist of 
different nutritive elements in proper proportion. A 
man who undertakes to live upon sugar, or fat, or starch, 
or albumen, exclusively, will die almost as soon as a man 
who eats nothing at all, although a mixture containing 
each of these elements in proper proportion is capable of 
sustaining life indefinitely. 

How Much to Eat. — Given proper food, properly 
prepared, one of the first questions which arises is, How 
much must a person eat to sustain life and keep himself 
in good working order ? Everybody knows the story of 
Cornaro, the dissipated Italian who found himself a 
wreck at thirty ; but by adopting a vegetarian diet, con- 
sisting of ten ounces per day, was able to prolong his life 
to a full century, and found himself when an octogenarian 
more active and vigorous than when a youth of twenty. 
A Frenchman lived for many years, working hard and 
preserving good health, on fourteen ounces per day. On 
the other hand, a Roman emperor ate as many pounds 
of meat per diem, and an Esquimau has been known to 
eat as much at a single meal. The amount of food 
required varies with each individual, with weather 
changes, and with the kind and amount of labor per- 
formed. The only proper guide to the quantity of food 
is a healthy appetite ; and when the palate is not tickled 
with savory comestibles, and the appetite stimulated 
by irritating condiments, nature will invariably say, 
" Enough," when a full allowance has been taken, by 
substituting a sense of satiety for the keen relish of 
hunger. A person, when no longer feeling a real demand 
for food, should stop eating. 



220 MAN, TILE MASTERPIECE. 

Relation of Climate and Occupation to Diet. — As 
regards the influence of weather and occupation upon 
eating, it may be briefly said that we need to consume 
more food in cold weather than during the warm season, 
for the simple reason that one of the most important 
uses of food is to furnish fuel to keep us warm. In cold 
weather, the consumption of fuel in our bodies, as well 
as in our stoves and furnaces, is necessarily greater 
than in the warm season; and hence we need a larger 
supply of food. Hard muscular labor, accompanied by 
active mental occupation, consumes the greatest amount 
of tissue in a given time, and produces the demand for a 
larger amount of food than either purely physical or 
purely mental occupations. The hard mental worker 
really requires as much food as the muscle worker, but 
should remember that he can indulge in excess with 
much less impunity. The woodsman, whose monotonous 
occupation makes of him practically a mere chopping ma- 
chine, consumes without apparent harm, several pounds 
daily of coarse and indigestible food, and a surplus of 
bodily energy enables him to digest what would be 
absolutely poisonous to a brain worker of sedentary hab- 
its, who can take with safety only just so much as his 
system actually requires. For the average man, the 
amount of food required each day probably varies not- 
far from one and one-half pounds of dry graham bread. 
or its equivalent in other foods. 

Danger of Eating too Much. — There is vastly more 
danger of eating too much than too little. The mother 
who fears her child may starve to death before morning 
if sent to bed without its supper, would undoubtedly 
find it difficult to believe that Dr. Tanner could live 



STOMACHS. 221 



forty days without tasting food, a period which has been 
in other instances of fasting considerably exceeded. 
The manner of taking food is a matter of quite as great 
consequence as the quantity eaten. The very best food, 
hastily bolted, after the fashion of the average American, 
may be digested less perfectly than food naturally diffi- 
cult of digestion, but which has been deliberately and 
thoroughly masticated. It is reported of Mr. Gladstone 
that he requires his children to make forty movements 
of the jaws for each mouthful of meat before swallowing 
it; and if the ex-prime minister himself follows the 
same rule, this may possibly be one of the secrets of the 
remarkable strength of mind and body which enable him 
to do more work at the advanced age of fourscore years 
than most of his countrymen are able to do at half that 
age. The tendency to hasty eating may be greatly 
lessened by the avoidance of liquids at meals. The free 
use of drinks at meals is also objectionable, as it dilutes 
the contents of the stomach to such a degree as to over- 
tax the absorbents, and thus delay the digestive process. 
Persons who are troubled with thirst at meals, may avoid 
the necessity of drinking by taking a glass or two of 
water an hour before the usual time for eating. 

Evils of Hasty Eating and Overeating. — The symp- 
toms which result from hasty eating and overeating are 
very similar. Indeed, the two processes are very likely 
to be combined, as one who eats too fast is very likely 
to eat too much. The most common sensations after 
excess or abuse of the digestive organs in this way are 
a sense of fullness at the stomach and drowsiness after 
eating, which are pretty likely to be followed an hour or 
two later by eructations of gas, with heart-burn or sour 



222 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

stomach, the result of fermentation of the food. After 
a time, the digestive organs may become so weakened 
that even a small quantity, though properly eaten, will 
be very imperfectly digested, and the whole system 
suffers in consequence. 

Indigestion is something more than simply an incon- 
venience. A body which is served with food by a 
dyspeptic stomach, receives very poor material of which 
to rebuild its tissues. None of the food is perfectly 
digested, and hence the quality of all the tissues is 
deteriorated. Besides this, the septic changes which 
take place in the stomach and bowels produce various 
poisonous substances, which are absorbed along with the 
food, and which poison and irritate the brain and nerves, 
and produce various disorders and discomforts which are 
ofttimes attributed to other causes. . Even the imper- 
fectly digested food is treated by the system as waste 
or poisonous material, and instead of being used to repair 
the wastes of the body, is excreted, or thrown off, by the 
liver and kidneys with the waste elements of the 
system. 

The stomach sometimes holds up wonderfully under 
the heavy burdens laid upon it, and digests a much 
larger amount of food than is necessary to supply the 
wants of the body. In such cases, the excessive amount 
of nutriment received is either at once excreted, or ac- 
cumulates in the tissues, clogging the various organs and 
interfering with their proper activity. Accumulations 
of this sort are the chief cause of gout, rheumatism, bil- 
iousness, and numerous other disorders which are usually 
attributed to other causes. 

Eating when tired, and engaging in active mental or 



STOMACHS. 223 



physical exercise immediately after a hearty meal, are 
two of the most common sins against dietetic rectitude 
in our modern civilization. An old medical writer tells 
us that a hundred years ago it was the custom among 
the merchants of Edinburg to take two hours' " nooning " 
for dinner in the middle of the day, during which time 
the shops were closed, and all business suspended. It 
is quite hopeless to attempt a resurrection of this good 
old-fashioned custom in these fast times ; and the best 
thing we can suggest is that no hearty meal should be 
eaten during the active business hours of the day, unless 
at least an hour or two can be allowed after the meal 
has been taken, to give the stomach opportunity to get 
the digestive process well under way. The plan which 
our personal experience leads us to prefer is to defer 
the hearty meal, as did the old Romans, until the latter 
part of the day, say four o'clock in the afternoon, taking, 
if necessary, an apple, a bunch of grapes, an orange 
or two, or some equally simple food at midday, to appease 
the clamoring of the stomach, until it has become accus- 
tomed to the lengthened interval between the first and 
second meals. Two meals a day are in every way pref- 
erable to a larger number. The ancient Greeks and 
Romans took but one meal per diem. During the re- 
publican era, the Roman custom was to eat twice a day, 
breakfast being simply a light repast of fruit and bread. 
At the present time, the two-meal-a-day plan prevails 
quite extensively in France and Spain, and especially 
among the better classes. The inmates of the hospitals 
in Paris are supplied with but two meals a day. The 
same is true respecting the soldiers of the French 
army. 



224 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

A Carnivorous Appetite. — When the practice of 
meat-eating was introduced into the human family, 
history does not positively inform us, but certain it is 
that primitive man was not carnivorous in his habits. 
In this one thing, at least, Darwin agrees with Moses. 
Bible accounts represent man in his primitive innocence 
as subsisting wholly upon the fruits of the soil. Darwin 
professes to trace back the origin of the human family 
to the megatherium, a four-handed beast that obtained 
its sustenance from the fruits and ground-nuts of the 
primeval forests through which it roamed. Pythagoras, 
one of the most renowned of Grecian philosophers, was 
a rigid vegetarian, as were all his followers. More 
than one modern philosopher has found himself able to 
do his best work when imitating the plan of Byron, who, 
during his stay in Venice, wrote to a friend, " I stick to 
Pythagoras." Plato and Seneca, two other celebrated 
philosophers, were vegetarians, as was also Shelley, 
and Benjamin Franklin, at least during a portion of his 
life. The great Newton, while writing his most cele- 
brated mathematical treatises, abstained wholly from 
animal food. Wendell Phillips, the " silver-tongued 
orator," informed the writer a few years before his death 
that for fifty years he had been a practical vegetarian, 
and rigidly so during a considerable portion of the time, 
though while traveling about the country, he sometimes 
tasted a little fish when meagerly supplied with whole- 
some vegetable food. The author of " Little Women," 
as well as the little women themselves, as we were 
informed by her father, the eminent Concord philosopher, 
were all vegetarians The writer has been a vege- 
tarian for more than twenty years ; and from personal 



STOMACHS. 225 



experience is convinced that the practice is in every 
way conducive to health, and is capable of sustaining 
mental and physical strength during protracted and most 
arduous labor, both physical and mental. 

It must be allowed, however, that meat may be used 
in moderation in connection with fruits and grains, with- 
out great apparent detriment, except when the flesh is 
obtained from a diseased animal, which, unfortunately, 
is an accident quite liable to occur. Trichina, tape-worm, 
and other parasitic diseases, besides consumption, possi- 
bly scrofula, and some other constitutional maladies, are 
liable to be contracted by the use of the flesh of diseased 
animals. Certain it is that young persons may dispense 
with the use of animal food with perfect safety. Milk 
is a perfect substitute for all the good qualities of flesh 
food ; and it is not impossible, as has been suggested, 
that parents may often find cow's milk far better than 
cow's hide in the management of hot-headed and refrac- 
tory sons. 

15 



A Few Prescriptions 

FOR SICK STOMACHS. 




SOUR STOMACH.— Said a lean/ cadaverous 
looking man to the writer one day, " My 
stomach is just like a swill barrel." The 
expression, though not elegant, was certainly 
appropriate as well as significant; for no sooner 
would the poor man swallow his dinner than 
it became converted into a sour, fermenting 
mass, which he was soon glad to rid himself 
of, provoking vomiting by thrusting his finger 
down his throat. In this wretched condition 
he had been for months, indeed, much of the time for 
years, and had sought relief from doctors of all pathies, 
and from patent medicines of every description, until at 
last he was almost in despair of ever being rid of his 
" tormentor," as he styled his dyspeptic stomach. The 
following was the poor man's prescription : — 

One hour before breakfast, drink two or three 
glasses of hot water to rinse out your sour stomach, and 
get it in fit condition to receive the morning meal One 
hour before dinner do the same. Half an hour before 
going to bed, again rinse out the stomach by two or 
three glasses of hot water. For breakfast, take two or 

[226] 



PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SICK STOMACHS. 227 

three glasses of hot milk, sipping it slowly and eating 
along with it a couple of generous slices of graham bread, 
toasted in the oven until hard and brown. For dinner, 
take bread and meat instead of Bread and milk, a tender 
steak or mutton-chop, free from fat, broiled rare and with- 
out butter. For supper, nothing but hot water. After 
continuing this diet until the stomach no longer sours, 
gradually enlarge the bill of fare until able to eat fruits 
and grains, simply prepared, avoiding tea, coffee, vege- 
tables, spices, fat meats, preserves, sugar, and all foods 
hard to digest. 

In six weeks the patient was well, and had added to 
his avoirdupois an average of one-half pound per diem. 

An All-Gone Feeling. — " There is such a terrible, 
all-gone feeling at the stomach. I feel as though I 
wanted to eat all the time, and yet nothing satisfies me," 
said a fashionable lady patient one day. 

" What do you eat ? " 

" Oh, beefsteak, bread and butter, tea and coffee, 
vegetables sometimes — whatever I like." 

"Pickles?" 

" Yes, always. I can't eat anything without pickles." 

" Mustard on your meat ? " 

" Of course. If I do n't eat mustard, jneat always 
lies heavy on my stomach. It don't seem to di- 
gest." 

" You take your coffee pretty strong, I suppose ? " 

" Yes, I want it good or not at all. None of your 
dish-water for me." 

" You take ice-cream after dinner, sometimes, do you 
not?" 

" Oh, yes, most every day in hot weather. No harm 
in that I suppose, it is so cooling." 



228 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

"Don't eat anything between meals?" 

" Yes, I do. I have fruit-cake or candy or some- 
thing else good close at hand all the time, and eat when- 
ever I get hungry." 

" You eat considerable confectionery, then, do you ? " 

"Oh, not so very much. There is a five-pound 
box of peppermint drops over there my husband just 
sent me. That will last me almost a week." 

" There are some more boxes over there just like 
this one. Do they contain peppermint drops too ? " 

" No ; I have eaten those up. In the last five weeks 
I have eaten just twenty-three pounds of those pepper- 
mint drops. You don't think they will do me any 
harm, do you ? " 

" Oh, no ! Peppermint oil applied to your skin, the 
tough outside covering of the body, will raise a blis- 
ter; but a stomach that has been abused like yours 
probably has no more feeling than an old boot. I pre- 
sume you could take half a pint of peppermint oil, and 
could eat mustard and red pepper like a Mexican, with- 
out knowing that there was anything unusual happen- 
ing in your stomach, unless it were a little extra touch 
of 6 all-goneness ' an hour or two afterward. The 
trouble with your stomach, madam, is total depravity. 
It has been so abominably treated that its natural 
tone and vigor are 6 all gone,' and it is of little more 
consequence to you than a leather bag. 

" It is n't any wonder that your face is pale and 
haggard, your cheeks thin, your naturally fair skin 
covered all over with unsightly brown patches, and 
that you are so afflicted with general good-for-nothing- 
ness. Your blood is thin and poor for want of well- 



PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SICK STOMACHS. 229 

digested food. Your nerves are irritated with exciting 
and irritating condiments, and your liver is half par- 
alyzed by its frantic efforts to dispose of some of the 
wretched stuff you have been putting into your stomach. 
The wonder is you have not died of starvation, of 
spinal anaemia, or inflammation of the stomach, or 
winter cholera, or some other proper kind of punishment 
for your unnatural treatment of your digestive organs. 

" If you expect to get well, you will have to turn 
over a new leaf immediately. Throw away your spices, 
condiments, confectionery, and ices, and stop eating 
between meals. Take only the most simple food twice 
or, at most, three times a day. You will soon find 
yourself getting more enjoyment out of a simple nat- 
ural dietary than vou ever dreamed of finding in the 
richest and most highly seasoned viands. You will 
have better blood ; your system will make better brains 
and nerves, better muscles, and a better liver. The 
dingy brown hue will disappear from your skin, your 
eyes will resume their natural brightness, the horrid 
nasty taste will get out of your mouth, and the ' all- 
gone ' feeling will be all gone." 

She did n't like to give up her tidbits and pepper- 
mint drops, but she so longed to get rid of those ugly 
brown patches, which " French chalk " and " Magnolia 
balm" would not cover up, that she reformed; and 
although " a leper may not change his spots, nor the 
Ethiopian his skin," this fashionable woman changed 
hers. 

Consumption or Dyspepsia, Which? — ••Doctor," 
said the mother of a lad of seventeen, as she brought 
him into the office, " I want you to tell me if this boy 



230 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

has consumption. He has been growing thinner and 
paler and weaker every day, until I have been obliged 
to take him out of school, and I am afraid he is n't go- 
ing to be good for anything." 

" Have a seat, madam, and I will look your boy 
over." 

" Take off your coat and vest, sir, — shirt, also, if 
you please. Now stand up before the light here and 
let me see you breathe. Chest flat, shoulders round, 
lungs evidently rather weak. Have n't very good wind, 
I guess. How far can you run without getting all out 
of breath ? " 

" I can't run at all. Can't even walk very fast ; it 
makes my heart beat so that it seems as though I 
could n't get my breath." 

" Now let me listen at your chest with the stetho- 
scope, while you take a deep breath. That will do. Now 
hold your breath a few seconds, while I listen at the 
heart. Very good. Now let us see your tongue. A 
thick yellow coat on it. You have a bad taste in your 
mouth in the morning ? " 

"An awful nasty taste." 

" Have a good appetite ? " 

" Sometimes want to eat all the while, and other 
times can't eat at all." 

" Have the headache sometimes ? " 

" Have sick headache every Monday morning." 

" Have any bad feelings in your stomach ? " 

" It seems as if there was a big stone there after 
every time I eat." 

" Bowels regular ? " 

" Have to take a dose of pills every other day, or 
they wouldn't be." 



PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SICK STOMACHS. 231 

" Do you have any indigestion ? " 

" I do n't know ; but I have something that comes 
up into my mouth and scorches my throat worse than 
red pepper after almost every meal." 

"What do you eat?" 

" Oh, I eat most anything I like. I didn't suppose 
it made any difference what I ate." 

"You like ham and eggs, fried sausage, 'Welsh 
rarebit/ mince-pies, doughnuts, griddle cakes, fried oys- 
ters, and stewed lobsters ? " 

" Oh, yes, I like all those things, and a good many 
more." 

" Madam, it is plain that this boy has no consump- 
tion, but it is equally clear that he has a full-grown dys- 
pepsia." 

" Do you think so, Doctor ? " 

" It is perfectly evident, madam." 

" Old Dr. M , who examined him a few weeks 

ago, said that he was i going into a decline,' and that I 
had better take him out of school, and give him a change 
of climate." 

" He is already in a decline, madam. A change of 
climate won't do him any harm, but what he most needs 
is a change of diet." 

" What do you think I had better give him to eat, 
Doctor ? " 

" Give him plenty of good fruit and grains, meat 
sparingly, eggs occasionally, and all the good rich milk 
and cream he wants." 

"What sort of grain preparations do you think 
would be best for him ? " 

" Well, let him have oatmeal mush or cracked wheat 



232 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

for breakfast, grits, rice, and boiled peas or beans for 
dinner, with good graham bread at both meals." 
" But he do n't like grains, Doctor." 
"Very likely; but he must learn to like them." 
" Do you think such light diet would be sufficiently 
strengthening for him ? You know his blood is rather 
thin, and he is pretty weak. The other doctor said 
that I ought to give him very hearty food, as he needs 
to be built up ; and he gave him some i beef, wine, and 
iron tonic ' to take." 

"A light diet, do you say, madam? Why, one 
pound of oatmeal or cracked wheat is worth three 
pounds of beefsteak for nourishment, and is a good deal 
easier to digest than fried oysters, and those other 
abominations your son has been eating." 
" But what about the supper, Doctor ? " 
" Well, if he must have a little supper, let him take 
a glass or two of milk, with a little stale bread and 
fruit ; but his digestion is so slow, he will be a good deal 
better off without anything at night. His sleep will be 
sounder, and when he wakes in the morning, he will 
pretty soon be rid of that c awful nasty taste ' in his 
mouth, and have a better appetite for breakfast. Try 
my prescription, and before a month's time you will be 
convinced that it is a good one." 

The prescription was tried, not one month, but six 
months — a year, in fact; and now the pale, weak lad has 
grown to be a tall, broad shouldered, muscular young 
man, with stout lungs, good digestion, and no more indi- 
cations of an approaching decline than a growing 
pumpkin. 



Biliousness. 




K963KSS& 

I F you can only get this bile off my stomach, 
Doctor, I think you can cure me," said a 
- >jJJL\M young man who had come from another State 
for advice regarding his health. 

What makes you think there is bile on 
your stomach, sir ? 

"Because I feel so bilious all the time. 
When I get up in the morning, my head feels 
as though it were made of wood. My mouth 
tastes as though I had been chewing old brass, 
and it takes me two or three hours to get my brain 
waked up enough so I can begin to think straight. My 
bowels are so costive I have to drink a bottle of vile 
mineral water every morning and night of my life, or 
they never would move. My skin, which used to be as 
fair as a girl's, is as dingy as though I never took a 
bath in my life. I see black specks before my eyes 
nearly ail the time, and every little while get so dizzy- 
headed I can hardly walk. Now if this does not show 
that there is too much bile on my stomach, then what 
does it indicate ? " 

" Too much bile," did you say ? My dear fellow, the 
trouble is you have not bile enough. There is no bile at 
all on your stomach. If you had bile on your stomach, 

[233] 



234 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

you wouldn't be here. You would be at home laid up 
in bed, patronizing a cuspidor, and sending out for a 
doctor to come and stop your turning yourself inside 
out. "When bile gets on the stomach, it don't stop 
there ; it either goes up or down very suddenly. 
The stomach knows its business too well to allow bile 
to lie around loose in it for weeks and months, or for 
any length of time. 

" But I vomit bile sometimes." 

Certainly. And if you had bile on your stomach, 
you would be vomiting this minute, as I have just 
intimated. But the bile very rarely gets into the stom- 
ach unless a person is nauseated so that the intestines 
get to working the wrong way, and carry the bile up 
from the place where it enters the small intestine, a few 
inches below the stomach, into the stomach itself. 

" Well, I believe that is what is the matter with me. 
It seems as though things had been working the wrong 
way down there for six months back, and one day I am 
sure there was bile on my stomach. I was awful sick ? 
and sent for the doctor ; and when he came, he gave me 
a dose of ipecac, and I vomited and vomited and vomited 
till I believe everything I had eaten for a week came up, 
and then came along a lot of bile as black and bitter as 
tan bark. I felt better for several days ; and then it 
seemed to me as though the bile began to accumulate 
again, and I have been feeling worse ever since. I 
believe if you would give me a good emetic, I should 
feel better right away." 

No, you would n't. You would feel worse immedi- 
ately, though you would probably feel better after the 
skirmish was over; but I am not prepared to see all 



BILIOUSNESS. 235 



you have been eating for a week just at present, so I 
guess we will postpone the emetic if you please. 

"But about that bile?" 

You have not convinced me yet that there is any 
bile on your stomach to be moved off, as you seem to 
believe. When a man gets to vomiting, and everything 
gets to working up toward the mouth, the bile is raised 
from the small intestine to the stomach by the violent 
efforts made in retching, or vomiting, while at the begin- 
ning of the attack there may have been none at all in 
the stomach. 

What is Biliousness ? — Biliousness is a condition 
of the system in which there is too little bile produced, 
instead of too much. The waste elements, which ought 
to be removed from the blood by the liver in the form of 
bile, are left in the body, and accumulate in the tissues. 
It is this that gives the dingy color to the white of the 
eye, the dirty hue to the skin, and the coppery taste to 
the mouth, and which produces the giddiness, the float- 
ing specks before the eyes, and the general feeling of 
languor and discomfort which characterizes the condition 
commonly known as biliousness. This dingy hue of the 
skin is actually due to the accumulation of waste matter, 
or organic dirt. The skin is dirty, perhaps not upon the 
surface, but all through its structure. Not only the 
skin, but the muscles are dirty. The brain and nerves 
are dirty. The whole body is clogged with dead and 
poisonous particles which ought to have been promptly 
carried out of it, but have been retained on account of 
the inefficient action of the liver. 

Too Much Bile.— U But do n't you think it is pos- 
sible, Doctor, for a person to have too much bile ? " 



236 MAN, THE MASTEBPIECE. 

It may be possible, but is scarcely probable. Did 
you ever know of a person's having too much gastric 
juice or too much pancreatic fluid ? But if it were 
possible, such a condition would not be likely to produce 
any of the symptoms which accompany biliousness. 

" Very likely you are right, Doctor ; but I would 
really like to know what causes this horrible biliousness 
that makes a man get up feeling as though he was going 
to be shot, or had committed the unpardonable sin, or 
that some horrible calamity was about to befall him." 

Causes of Biliousness. — The causes of biliousness 
are various. One of the most frequent is overeating. 
If you press your ringers close up under the ribs on the 
right side of the body, you can feel the lower border of 
the liver about an inch above the lower edge of the last 
rib. If you do the same after having eaten a hearty 
meal, you will find the lower border of the liver half an 
inch lower down. This is due to the fact that the liver 
becomes enlarged through the absorption of digested 
food after a meal has been taken. If you eat a very 
large meal, say twice as much as you usually eat, and 
then feel for the lower border, you will find it reaching 
down to a level with the lowest rib, showing that the 
liver is very greatly enlarged, much more than it should 
be. If you go on eating too much in this way, day 
after day and week after week, after awhile the vessels 
of the liver will be so relaxed by frequent distension 
that the organ will grow permanently enlarged and con- 
gested. When in this condition, the liver cannot make 
bile readily, and so does not do the proper amount of 
work, and the waste elements which it ought to remove 
from the body are left to accumulate in the tissues, and 
all the symptoms of biliousness follow. 



BILIOUSNESS. 237 



Biliousness is sometimes the result of eating too 
freely of fats. Animal fats being particularly difficult 
to digest, and likely to be taken in too large quantities 
in the shape of butter, lard, suet, and fat meats, are apt 
to produce this condition. 

Some years ago, a French physiologist fed to various 
animals liberal supplies of fat, and then observed the 
quantity of bile produced. He found that the amount 
of bile was lessened just in proportion to the amount of 
fat added to the food. In order to ascertain the reason 
for this result, he killed some animals, after having fed 
them freely with fat, and examined their livers with a 
microscope. By this means he discovered that the little 
cells which chiefly compose the liver, and which form 
the bile, were crowded full of little drops of fat, and 
were thus so burdened and hampered in their work that 
they were obliged to work very slowly, and hence pro- 
duced only a small quantity of bile. 

Similar experiments show that the excessive use of 
flesh food also renders the liver torpid, and produces 
biliousness. Flesh food generally consists of albumen, 
a nitrogenous substance, which can be used in the body 
only in a very limited amount. The average person can 
use only three ounces of this kind of material each 
twenty-four hours. Now if a person eats several times 
this amount in the form of beefsteak, mutton-chop, or 
any other flesh food, the superfluous amount must all be 
removed in the form of waste matter. That is, if the 
person eats meat sufficient to supply four ounces of 
nitrogenous matter, the extra ounce must be carried off 
by the kidneys in the form of urea, or uric acid, and this 
must be acted upon by the liver to prepare it for re- 



238 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

moval by the kidneys. If the liver has more of this work 
to do than it should have, the work will be imperfectly 
done, and much waste matter which ought to be re- 
moved will be left in the system, producing biliousness, 
rheumatism, muscular pains, sick headaches, and many 
other uncomfortable symptoms. Persons suffering from 
these causes will often notice sediment in the urinary 
secretion. This is, in fact, one of the most common 
causes of the sediment, or deposit, ordinarily found in 
the urine. 

Cause of Spring Sickness. — " Doctor, do you sup- 
pose the facts you have stated respecting fats and flesh 
food explain the reason why one loses his appetite for 
such substances, and craves fresh vegetables, acids, etc., 
in the spring of the year ? " 

Certainly, sir. The repugnance to rich foods and 
flesh food, which nearly every person feels in the spring, 
is nature's protest against the use of those articles 
at that season of the year. During the winter season, 
the extra supply of oxygen received in the condensed 
atmosphere enables the system to dispose of waste 
matters more readily than during the warm season ; and 
hence those substances which tax the liver and en- 
courage the accumulation of waste matter, can be taken 
with greater impunity during the cold months ; but 
when warm weather approaches, the accumulation of 
waste matter soon becomes so great that nature makes 
a vigorous demand for a change of habits in the mat- 
ter of diet. If nature's suggestion is not readily re- 
ceived and acted upon, she follows it up with a vig- 
orous reminder in the shape of a " bilious attack," 
u spring sickness," a " gastric fever," an attack of u liver 



BILIOUSNESS. 239 



complaint," diarrhea, or some other expression of her dis- 
pleasure at the treatment she receives. 

Still another cause of biliousness, arising from tor- 
pidity or inactivity of the liver, is the use of condiments 
and such substances as mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, 
ginger, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and other things 
which have an acrid or burning flavor. How any one 
could ever have learned to relish substances which bum 
and sting as they go down the throat, is one of the 
mysteries of dietetics which we have never been able to 
solve. Certain it is that a substance which will raise a 
blister on the skin in fifteen minutes, as mustard or 
cayenne pepper will do, is capable of doing mischief on 
the inside of the liver when it gets there through 
absorption from the stomach. If you put a little pepper 
in the eye, it makes the tears flow, and presently the 
eye becomes blood-shot. Mustard or pepper in the liver 
does not make it smart, as it has very few nerves of 
feeling ; but it causes the blood-vessels to enlarge, and 
probably at first increases the amount of bile produced ; 
but the effect of continued use is just the same as would 
be the effect upon the eye, if a little pepper were put 
into it every day. Such an eye would after awhile 
become so inflamed that it would be blood-shot and con- 
gested all the time. So the liver, by the habitual use 
of condiments, becomes permanently congested ; and a 
congested liver is a torpid liver, capable of making less 
bile than is necessary to maintain the system in a state 
of health. 

" But, Doctor, food is so insipid without any season- 
ing. You do n't really think a little mustard on meat, 
or pepper in soups and on vegetables, does any particular 



9^0 M&B* THE MASTERPIECE. 

harm, do you ? It seems to me that I feel better when 
I add a little pepper or mustard to my food. If I do n't 
have it, food seems to he heavy on my stomach." 

Evidently, your poor stomach has got so used to 
being whipped, it wo n't work without whipping, like a 
lazy horse that has become so accustomed to the lash 
that it does not know it is required to take a faster 
gait until the whip is applied vigorously. And your 
poor liver is doubtless just as sluggish as your stomach, 
only it has been whipped so long and has become so 
weak from trying to do all the extra work demanded of 
it, that it won't work at all, even if it is whipped with 
mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, and the other means by 
which people goad their stomachs and livers into doing- 
more work than they are really able to do. I suppose 
you take a dose of salts now and then, and feel better 
right away afterward, do n't you ? 

" Yes, that is just what I do. I was brought up on 
salts. As early as I can remember, my mother gave 
me a dose of salts alono- with the rest of the children 
every two weeks regularly : but lately my liver has been 
getting so torpid the salts do not seem to touch it, and 
I have to go to the doctor and get a dose of calomel 
every now and then/' 

That is about the way most people do. After they 
have whipped and goaded their livers until they have 
become so tired and weak they will not respond to any 
ordinary whipping, then they run to the doctor for 
some cat-o'-nine-tails sort of medicine with which to ex- 
asperate the poor organ into doing what it is really too 
weak and feeble to do. 

But there is still another cause of biliousness which 



BILIOUSNESS. 241 



is quite frequently overlooked. The liver needs oxygen 
to carry on its business of bile-making and sugar-making 
and the various other kinds of work it has to do. The 
amount of oxygen in the blood depends upon the amount 
of air taken into the lungs. If a man stops breathing, 
he very quickly gets black in the face, because the 
oxygen of the blood is consumed so rapidly that the 
blood quickly acquires the dark color it has when it con- 
tains little or no oxygen. If we exercise out-of-doors 
on a cold winter's day, we come in with cheeks and lips 
rosy with the glow of health, because they are filled 
with bright blood, rich in oxygen. When we sit quietly 
in-doors in heated rooms, and take little or no exercise 
out-of-doors, we do not expand our lungs well, and con- 
sequently receive very little air into the blood, and the 
little we inhale is poor in oxygen. Consequently, the 
whole body suffers for want of this life-giving element, 
and the liver with the rest. Not being able to make bile 
without oxygen, and its supply being insufficient, it 
makes too little bile, and allows the waste elements 
which should have been removed through this channel 
to accumulate in the body. Thus a person becomes 
bilious from sedentary habits. 

We must not overlook the fact that the use of strong 
tea and coffee, and especially the use of tobacco and 
alcoholic drinks, are among the most ready means of 
producing biliousness. All smokers and drinkers are 
more or less bilious, and the tawny complexion of strong 
tea and coffee drinkers is undoubtedly due to the bad 
effect of these beverages upon the liver. 

No Wonder He Was Bilious. — "Well, Doctor, if 
what you have been telling me is true, and I confess it 

16 



24:2 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

looks reasonable, as you seem to have good scientific 
facts for the support of all your theories, I do not won- 
der that I am bilious ; for I think I have done every- 
thing I possibly could to make myself so. Mother is a 
good cook, and it always seems to do her good to see us 
eat heartily ; and a good many times, when I feel as 
though I had eaten enough, she brings along some nice 
short-cake, or chicken pie, or an apple dumpling with 
cream sauce, or some other nice dish, and the tempta- 
tion is almost always too much for me. I presume I eat 
as much again as I ought to. I know I do, in fact. 
One day I weighed myself, and found that I weighed 
almost four pounds more after dinner than I did before. 
When I think of it, I wonder my liver did n't swell up 
big enough to burst. 

" As for fats, I believe I eat a quarter of a pound of 
butter every meal. Our family is consumptive, you 
know, and the doctor told mother she ought to make us 
eat all the fat we could, so we would n't get consump- 
tion ; and I eat meat three times a clay, ham and eggs 
or beefsteak for breakfast, roast beef or stewed chicken 
for dinner, and tongue or some other cold meat for sup- 
per, and sometimes I take a sandwich just before I go 
to bed, when I get home rather late. Why, I supposed 
meat was healthful, and that one couldn't be strong 
unless they ate plenty of it. I never heard about its 
having anything to do with the liver before ; but then, 
it is just as you say, I have no doubt ; for I have often 
noticed that brick-dust sediment, which you referred to. 
But I have observed, too, that it sometimes disappears, 
when I happen to get out of the store for a few days, 
and take more exercise in the open air. 



BILIOUSNESS. 243 



" But now won't you tell me how I am going to get 
rid of this bad taste in my mouth, this yellow coat on 
my tongue, and these unsightly pimples on my face ? 
And, besides, I want to call your attention to the worst 
of all, those horrid ' down feelings ' I have in the morn- 
ing, when I first get up, and two or three hours after- 
ward." 

Remedy for Biliousness. — The remedy is plain 
enough. Stop abusing your liver. Give it an easy 
time for a few weeks, and see what a wonderful change 
will occur in your feelings. The liver will go about its 
work in the most cheerful manner possible if it has half 
a chance. 

To begin with, stop eating fat, meat, and sugar. 
There, I forgot to tell you about sugar. I suppose you 
want to know the reason it makes one bilious when used 
in too large quantities. Well, the liver, as you doubt- 
less know, has a funny trick of taking all the sugar that 
comes to it in the digested food, — which is quite a large 
amount, as all the starch of our food is converted into 
sugar in the digestive process, — and converting it into a 
sort of liver starch, called glycogen. This starch it stores 
away in its tissues, and this, by the way, is one reason 
why the liver is larger after a meal than before ; it is 
rilled up with liver-starch. In the interval between one 
meal and the next, this liver-starch is slowly converted 
into sugar again, and allowed to enter the system, a lit- 
tle at a time. Now if a person eats too much sugar, the 
liver will have more of this starch-making business than 
it can do, without neglecting other work, and conse- 
quently will get behindhand with its bile-making. So a 
person who eats too much butter, sugar, confectionery, 



244 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

etc. , gets the "blues," and has to pay smartly for his 
indulgence of his sugar tooth. 

But to resume our prescription. Abstain from ani- 
mal fats, flesh meats, sugars and sweet sauces, pastry, 
rich foods of all sorts, spices and other condiments. Be 
careful not to eat too much. Let the diet consist chiefly 
of fruits and grains, with a liberal allowance of milk. 
Take one or two oranges half an hour before each meal. 
A lemon now and then, or a glass of lemonade, either 
cool — not cold — or hot, according to your fancy, and 
taken some other time than at meals or just after eating, 
will be found serviceable. One hour before each meal, 
drink two glasses of hot water, hot as you can swallow 
without inconvenience. Repeat the dose half an hour 
before going to bed at night. 

On retiring, wring a towel out of cold water, dry 
enough so it will not drip, and place it around the body 
over the liver, and cover with two or three thicknesses 
of dry flannel. In the morning, remove the bandage, 
and dipping the hands in cold water, rub the surface, 
and then dry it with a linen towel. Beat the chest vig- 
orously over the region of the liver for five minutes. 
Bub and knead the bowels for another five minutes. 
Every other morning, take a hand bath, using water at 
a temperature of seventy-five to eighty degrees, just 
dipping the hands in the water, then rubbing the surface 
of one part of the body at a time, drying the part imme- 
diately, before proceeding to another part, and so bathing 
the whole body. Be sure to get up a good glow. 

Every day walk five miles in the open air, with the 
shoulders well thrown back, head erect, and with a vig- 
orous step. Do n't try to do much of it before breakfast ; 



BILIOUSNESS. 245 



one mile at that time is enough. Divide the balance 
between the forenoon or afternoon and the evening, just 
before going to bed. If you can bring yourself to adopt 
the plan of eating but twice a day, your poor, tired liver 
would be very grateful for the little vacation which you 
would give it between the last meal and the first meal 
the next day. This will give it time to contract down 
to its proper size, to empty itself of blood, and clear 
away all the old liver-starch it has been storing up, and 
to get a good store of bile ready to help digest the next 
meal, and at the same time clear away the dirt from the 
brain and the rest of the body. Dispensing with the 
third meal will do more in getting rid of the morning 
"blue devils" than anything else can do. 

" But, Doctor, I do n't see how I am going to do all 
that. I always did like good victuals, and I had so much 
oatmeal and that sort of stuff at boarding school that I 
never could bear it since. Do n't you think you could 
give me something I could take that would cleanse my 
blood and stir my liver up, in place of this diet, and 
bathing, etc. And besides, I do n't see how I can get 
the time for that five-mile walk. I do n't believe I have 
walked five miles in one day in as many years." 

I see you are just like most other sick people. You 
want us doctors to help you to find out some way of 
cheating nature. You want to do as you please, gratify- 
ing a depraved appetite, neglecting all hygienic rules, 
violating the laws of nature as much as you please, and 
then ask us to give you some little drops of medicine 
which you can swallow and undo the consequences of all 
this physical sinning. Let me tell you, young man, 
nature was not such a fool as to make laws with penal- 



246 J/^^, THE MASTERPIECE. 

ties attached, and then provide easy ways for avoiding 
proper punishment for their violation. What would you 
think of a government that would make a law requiring 
imprisonment for theft, and then place in the hands of 
each culprit, as he was turned into his cell and locked 
up, a key by which he could unlock the prison door and 
let himself out any moment he chose to do so ? 

Nature says, " If you gorge yourself with flesh food, 
if you swallow all sorts of greasy diet, if you apply 
mustard poultices to the inside of your stomach, if you 
make a hog and a glutton of yourself generally, and then 
sit down in an oven of an office all day, and smoke or 
drink beer with a lot of other silly fellows at the ' Club ' 
at night, and habitually commit all sorts of other i un- 
natural crimes ' against your stomach and your liver, — if 
you behave in this sort of indecent way, you shall be 
condemned to suffer ' biliousness ' to the full extent of 
the law, and all the medical lawyers and pettifoggers in 
Christendom, regular and irregular, allopathic, homeo- 
pathic, electropathic, physiopathic, motorpathic, and those 
of no pathy at all, can't save you from the dismal dungeon 
of misanthropy and hypochondriasis into which I will 
plunge you if you do n't speedily turn over a new leaf, 
and begin works of supererogation, such as swallowing a 
few T pints of hot water every day to rinse your dirty 
blood and brain and muscles, and wash the old bile out 
of your liver and gall-bladder, and help to drive the 
wheels of your bile-making factory fast enough to make 
up for lost time. Why, young man, let me tell you 
something that perhaps you do n't know. You are liable 
to be arrested any minute, and condemned to the torture 
bed of inflammatory rheumatism, which means six weeks 



BILIO USNESS. 247 



of purgatory, lacking nothing but the brimstone to make 
it equivalent to the orthodox place of the same name." 

" Well, well, I see it is n't hardly safe for a fellow to 
fool with his liver too much. I will try your prescription, 
but I do n't hardly know about that hot water. Would 
it do any harm if I should put in a teaspoonful or two of 
brandy to make it go down better ? " 

Not a drop, sir. A teaspoonful of brandy would be 
just enough to antidote all its good effects upon the liver. 
You must take your water " straight." 

"You will allow me to take mineral water if I 
prefer, won't you, Doctor? You know there is a 
good deal said nowadays about germs, etc., in drinking 
water, and the danger of poisoning from lead pipes, etc.; 
and besides, hot water is so flat. I do n't believe I have 
taken a glass of water without ' something in it ' for six 
months." 

Sorry I cannot accommodate you, sir, but I never 
prescribe mineral water. When we take water for 
medicine, -it is water we want, and not minerals ; and 
as to purity, a man of your intelligence and general 
information ought to know that most of the mineral 
waters come from the city water-works, with all their 
possible germs and a lot of other things, the original 
water being adulterated with various alkalies, salts, sul- 
phurous gases, and other bad tasting and filthy smelling 
things, and then bottled and labeled as though it came 
direct from the bowels of the earth, although it is very 
likely that it would not be any better if it did. 

" Well, Doctor, if I must, I must. I will follow your 
prescription for six weeks, and then if I am no better I 
shall say that I am a fool, and you are a " 



248 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Never mind, sir. At the end of six weeks you will 
say that you were a fool, but are growing wiser, and 
that I am your benefactor. I will stake my reputation 
that if you follow my prescription to the letter, you will 
never have occasion again to ask me or any other doctor 
to " get the bile off your stomach." 




The Two Breaths. 




HE air which we breathe in, is the " breath of 
life ; " the air which we breathe out, is a 
deadly vapor, destructive to animal life in 
every form. It is very important that we 
should truly understand the nature of the 
two breaths, and the important relations which 
they sustain to human life and health. Let 
us consider, first, the breath we breathe in. 

The Air. — The chemist tells us that the 
atmosphere consists chiefly of two gases, 
oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportion of one part of 
the former to four of the latter. Of these two gases, 
oxygen is the one which is essential to life. Nitrogen 
seems to be useful only to dilute the oxygen, and 
regulate its supply to the body. Some other things are 
found in the air, such as dust and other foreign bodies ; 
but the most worthy of mention is carbonic acid, a 
poisonous gas which is found in the purest air in the 
proportion of one part to twenty-five hundred of air. 
All animal and vegetable life depend upon the oxygen 
of the air. Combustion, or burning, and many other 
chemical processes also depend upon the presence of 
oxygen. If this gas is diminished in proportion, even 
so small an amount as two or three parts in a hundred, 

[249] 



250 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the breathing becomes difficult, and a lighted taper or 
candle burns dimly. A slight additional decrease in the 
amount of oxygen renders the air incapable of supporting 
combustion, so that burning bodies, as a candle, thrown 
into it would be extinguished. 

The intensity of our life, or vital activities, is largely 
dependent upon the amount of oxygen in the air, which 
is constantly varying, more or less, as the result of 
various causes, some of which we will mention : — 

When the air is heated, it expands, thus giving to 
any given volume of air a diminished amount of oxygen. 
Air which is heated from twenty degrees above zero to 
the usual temperature of living-rooms, increases its 
volume one-tenth, and proportionately diminishes the 
amount of oxygen contained in a given volume. Air at 
ninety degrees contains one-twentieth less oxygen than 
the same amount of air at sixty degrees. This is the 
reason why the fire on the hearth burns more brightly 
in cold weather than in warm, and why a brisk walk on 
a frosty morning produces such a fine flow of animal 
spirits, and a vigorous appetite. Each breath of the 
cold, condensed air carries into the lungs a larger amount 
of the life-giving oxygen than is breathed during the 
warm clays of midsummer, when the air is expanded 
and the oxygen diluted by the heat. 

The density of the air, and consequently the pro- 
portion of oxygen which it contains, is also diminished 
by altitude. The air at the mountain top is thinner 
than that in the valley, as the atmospheric pressure is 
less. One who has' climbed among the Alps or the 
mountains of Colorado has been made conscious of this 
fact by the difficulty experienced in making exertion 



THE TWO BREATHS. 251 

after getting up a few thousand feet, where the air is 
much thinner than that which he has been accustomed 
to breathe, requiring an extra effort to get a sufficient 
amount of air to supply the wants of the system. 

The barometer indicates a constant variation in the 
density of the atmosphere. When the barometer rises, 
the air is denser, and consequently richer in oxygen. 
When it falls, the air is lighter, and contains less 
oxygen. This fact accounts for the enervation and 
oppression often felt just prior to and during a storm, 
when the barometer usually falls, owing to the decrease 
in the density of the atmosphere. 

It will be readily understood that a sudden rise in 
temperature accompanied by a fall of the barometer, 
would produce a double degree of interference with res- 
piration, by decreasing the amount of oxygen inhaled at 
each breath. The amount of oxygen taken in at a single 
respiration, with the thermometer at 80° and the barom- 
eter an inch and a half lower than usual, would be 
equivalent to only nine-tenths of the amount of oxygen 
taken with the barometer at its usual hight and the 
temperature at 60°. This very readily accounts for the 
extreme degree of enervation and prostration felt, espe- 
cially by nervous people and invalids, just prior to a 
storm, in very hot weather. 

Persons living in an elevated atmosphere compensate 
for the diminished amount of oxygen in the air by 
increasing the amount taken in at each respiration. This 
is said to result in increasing the lung capacity of people 
residing in such localities. It is also supposed that the 
necessity for increased action of the lungs and the 
breathing of a larger amount of air, is the means by 



252 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

which persons suffering with some forms of pulmonary 
disease are apparently benefited by residence in elevated 
districts. 

The air of countries located near the sea or other 
large bodies of water, contains a large proportion of 
watery vapor when the wind is in the direction of the 
water. When the wind is blowing in the opposite 
direction, the air is apt to be quite dry. Just before a 
storm, the air is usually nearly saturated with vapor. 
In the warm season of the year, the degree of saturation 
of out-door air and that within doors is about the same. 
In the winter season, however, owing to the high tem- 
perature of in-door air, it is very much drier, unless 
watery vapor is added by artificial means, which should 
always be done. This is owing to the fact that air 
acquires, by increase of temperature, a greater capacity 
for absorbing moisture. 

The Air We Breathe Out. — During its stay in the 
lungs, the air acquires properties of a deadly character, 
which may be easily determined by a few experiments : — 

Experiment. — Place a few flies in a bottle. Now 
breathe into it until all the air of the bottle is displaced 
by air from the lungs. Now cork the bottle, and in a 
little while the flies will be dead. 

Another Experiment. — By means of a tube, breathe 
several times into a fruit jar. Now take a small bit of 
candle, and fasten it to one end of a wire twelve or fifteen 
inches long. Light it, and let it down into the jar. It 
will be quickly extinguished. Thousands of human lives 
are being extinguished at this very moment by breathing 
air which has been breathed before. 

By means of another experiment, the chemist learns 



THE TWO BREATHS. 253 

that the expired breath contains a larger amount of car- 
bonic acid gas than ordinary air. Put half a teacupful 
of lime-water into a clean quart fruit jar. Close the 
mouth of the jar, and shake it. The water remains clear. 
Now blow into the jar through a tube, three of four 
breaths. Close the jar. Shake again. Observe that 
the water becomes a milky color. This proves that the 
breath contains a large amount of carbonic acid gas, and 
explains the reason why a candle will not burn in air 
which has been breathed. 

The Black Hole of Calcutta. — The deadly properties 
of breathed air are well illustrated by the dreadful 
experiences of a company of English soldiers in a prison 
in India, something more than a century ago. The fol- 
lowing account of the terrible suffering and fatal effects 
produced in this instance by deprival of fresh air, given 
by Mr. Holwell, one of the sufferers, though somewhat 
lengthy, teaches us such a lesson of the value of pure 
air that we consider it worthy a place in these pages : — 

" Figure to yourself the situation of a hundred and 
forty-six wretches, exhausted by continual fatigue and 
action, crammed together in a cube of eighteen feet, in a 
close, sultry night in Bengal, shut up to the eastward 
and southward (the only quarter w T hence air could reach 
us) by dead walls, and by a wall and door to the north, 
open only to the westward by two windows strongly 
barred with iron, from which we could receive scarcely 
the least circulation of the fresh air. . . . We had 
been but a few minutes confined before every one fell 
into a perspiration so profuse you can form no idea of it. 
This brought on raging thirst, which increased in pro- 
portion as the body was drained of its moisture. Various 



254: MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

expedients were thought of to give more room and air. 
To gain the former, it was moved to put off their clothes ; 
this was approved as a happy motion, and in a few 
moments every one was stripped, myself, Mr. Court, 
and the two young gentlemen by me, excepted. For 
a little while they flattered themselves with having 
gained a mighty advantage ; every hat was put in motion 
to gain a circulation of air, and Mr. Baillie proposed that 
every man should sit down on his hams. This expedient 
was several times put in practice, and at each time many 
of the poor creatures, whose natural strength was less 
than that of the others, or who had been more exhausted, 
and could not immediately recover their legs when the 
word was given to rise, fell to rise no more, for they 
were instantly trod to death or suffocated. When the 
whole body sat down, they were so closely wedged 
together that they were obliged to use many efforts 
before they could get up again. Before nine o'clock, 
every man's thirst grew intolerable, and respiration 
difficult. Efforts were made to force the door, but in 
vain. Many insults were used to the guard to provoke 
them to fire on us. For my own part, I hitherto felt 
little pain or uneasiness but what resulted from my 
anxiety for the sufferings of those within. By keeping 
my face close between two of the bars, I obtained air 
enough to give my lungs easy play, though my perspira- 
tion was excessive, and thirst commencing. At this 
period, so strong a urinous volatile effluvium came from 
the prison, that I was not able to turn my head that 
way for more than a few seconds at a time. 

" Now everybody, except those situated in and near 
the windows, began to grow outrageous, and many 



THE TWO BREATHS. 255 

delirious. Water ! water ! became the general cry. An 
old Jemandtdaar, taking pity on us, ordered the people 
to bring us some skins of water. This was what I 
dreaded. I foresaw it would prove the ruin of the 
small chance left us, and essayed many times to speak 
to him privately to forbid its being brought; but the 
clamor was so loud it became impossible. The water 
appeared. Words cannot paint the universal agitation 
and raving the sight of it threw us into. I flattered 
myself that some, by preserving an equal temper of 
mind, might outlive the night; but now the reflection 
which gave me the greatest pain was that I saw no pos- 
sibility of one's escaping to tell the dismal tale. Until 
the water came, I had not myself suffered much from 
thirst, which instantly grew excessive. We had no 
means of conveying it into the prison but by hats forced 
through the bars ; and thus myself and Coles and Scott 
supplied them as fast as possible. But those who have 
experienced intense thirst, or are acquainted with the 
cause and nature of this appetite, will be sufficiently 
sensible that it could receive no more than a momentary 
alleviation ; the cause still existed. 

" Though we brought full hats through the bars, 
there ensued such violent struggles and frequent contests 
to get it, that before it reached the lips of any one, there 
would be scarcely a small teacupful left in them. These 
supplies, like sprinkling water on fire, only seemed to 
feed the flames. Oh ! my dear sir, how shall I give 
you a just conception of what I felt at the cries and 
cravings of those in the remoter parts of the prison, who 
could not entertain a probable hope of obtaining a drop, 
yet could not divest themselves of expectation, however 



256 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

unavailing, calling on me by the tender considerations of 
affection and friendship. The confusion now became 
general and horrid. Several quitted the other window 
(the only chance they had for life) to force their way to 
the water, and the throng and press upon the window 
was beyond bearing ; many, forcing their way from the 
farther part of the room, pressed down those in their 
passage who had less strength, and trampled them to 
death. 

" From about nine to eleven I sustained this cruel 
scene, still supplying them with water, though my legs 
were almost broken with the weight against them. By 
this time I myself was near pressed to death, and my 
two companions, with Mr. Parker, who had forced him- 
self to the window, were really so. At last I became 
so pressed and wedged up, I was deprived of all motion. 
Determined to give up everything, I called to them, 
as a last instance of their regard, that they would relieve 
the pressure upon me, and permit me to retire out of the 
window to die in quiet. They gave way, and with much 
difficulty I forced a passage into the center of the prison, 
where the throng was less by the many dead, amounting 
to one-third, and the numbers who flocked to the win- 
dows ; for by this time they had water also at the other 
window. ... I laid myself down on some of the dead, 
and recommending myself to Heaven, had the comfort 
of thinking my sufferings could have no long duration. 

"My thirst now grew insupportable, and the diffi- 
culty of breathing much increased. I had not re- 
mained in this situation ten minutes before I was seized 
with a pain in my breast, and palpitation of the heart, 
both to the most exquisite degree. These obliged me 



THE TWO BREATHS. 257 

to get up again, but still the pain, palpitation, and 
difficulty of breathing increased. I retained my senses 
notwithstanding, and had the grief to see death not so 
near me as I had hoped, but could no longer bear the 
pains I suffered without attempting a relief, which I 
knew fresh air only would and could give me. I in- 
stantly determined to push for the window opposite to 
me, and by an effort of double the strength I ever be- 
fore possessed, gained the third rank at it — with one 
hand seized a bar, and by that means gained a second, 
though I think there were at least six or seven ranks 
between me and the window. In a few moments the 
pain, palpitation, and difficulty of breathing ceased, but the 
thirst continued intolerable. I called aloud, 6 Water for 
GooTs sake I ' 

" I had been concluded dead ; but as soon as the 
men found me among them, they still had the respect 
and tenderness for me to cry out, ' Give him water ! ' nor 
would one of them at the window attempt to touch it 
till I had drunk. But from the water I had no relief; my 
thirst was rather increased by it : so I determined to 
drink no more, but patiently await the event. I kept 
my mouth moist from time to time by sucking the per- 
spiration out of my shirt sleeves, and catching the drops 
as they fell like heavy rain from my head and face ; you 
can scarcely imagine how unhappy I was if any of them 
escaped my mouth. ... I was observed by one of my 
companions on the right in the expedient of allaying my 
thirst by sucking my shirt sleeve. He took the hint, 
and robbed me from time to time of a considerable part 
of my store, though, after I detected him, I had the ad- 
dress to begin on that sleeve first when I thought my 

17 



258 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

reservoirs were sufficiently replenished, and our mouths 
and noses often came in contact. This man was one of 
the few who escaped death, and he has since paid me 
the compliment of assuring me he believed he owed his 
life to the many comfortable draughts he had from my 
sleeves. No Bristol water could be more soft or pleas- 
ant than what arose from perspiration. 

" By half-past eleven, much the greater number of 
those living were in an outrageous delirium, and others 
quite ungovernable, few retaining any calmness but the 
ranks near the windows. They now all found that 
water, instead of relieving their uneasiness, rather 
hightened it, and ' Air ! air ! ' was the general cry. 
Every insult that could be devised against the guard 
was repeated to provoke them to fire on us, every man 
that could, rushing tumultuously toward the windows 
with eager hopes of meeting the first shot. But these 
failing, they whose strength and spirits were quite ex- 
hausted, laid themselves down, and quietly expired 
upon their fellows ; others, who had yet some strength 
and vigor left, made a last effort for the windows, 
and several succeeded, by leaping and scrambling over 
the backs and heads of those in the first ranks, in getting 
hold of the bars, from which there was no removing 
them. Many to the right and left sank with the violent 
pressure, and were soon suffocated; for now a steam 
arose from the living and the dead, which affected us in 
all its circumstances, as if we were forcibly held by our 
heads over a bowl of strong volatile spirits of hartshorn 
until suffocated ; nor could the effluvium of the one be dis- 
tinguished from that of the other. 

" I need not ask your commiseration when I tell you 



THE TWO BREATHS. 259 

that in this plight, from half an hour after eleven till two 
in the morning, I sustained the weight of a heavy man 
with his knees on my back, and the pressure of his 
whole body on my head ; a Dutch sergeant who had 
taken his seat on my left shoulder ; and a black soldier 
bearing on my right, — all of which nothing would have 
enabled me to support but the props and pressure 
equally sustaining me all round. The two latter I 
frequently dislodged by shifting my hold on the bars, 
and driving my knuckles into their ribs ; but my friend 
above stuck fast, and as he held by two bars, was im- 
movable. The repeated trials I made to dislodge this 
insufferable encumbrance upon me, at last quite ex- 
hausted me, and toward two o'clock, finding I must 
quit the window or sink where I was, I resolved on 
the former, having borne truly, for the sake of others, 
infinitely more for life than the best of it is worth. 

" I was at this time sensible of no pain and little 
uneasiness. I found a stupor coming on apace, and 
laid myself down by that gallant old man, the rev- 
erend Jervas Bellamy, who lay dead with his son, the 
lieutenant, hand in hand, near the southernmost wall 
of the prison. Of what passed in the interval, to the 
time of resurrection from this hole of horrors, I can 
give you no account." 

At six in the morning the door was opened, when 
only twenty-three out of the hundred and forty- 
six still breathed. These were subsequently revived. 

Numerous other instances, similar in character, have 
occurred on slave and emigrant ships, in which large 
numbers of persons have been confined in unventilated 
cabins during severe storms. In one instance, one- 



260 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

third of a company of two hundred emigrants thus 
confined were found dead when the hatchways were 
burst open, and the remainder were barely alive. 

But these cases only give a mere suggestion of 
the dreadful mortality from impure air. Probably there 
is not one private house in a thousand which has an 
adequate supply of pure air during the cold season of 
the year. ■ It is only by being long habituated to the 
poisonous influences of impure air, that civilized people 
are able to withstand its poisonous influences. A North 
American Indian, accustomed to the pure atmosphere 
of his native wilds, would scarcely survive six months' 
confinement during the winter season in an average 
American home. Thousands of soldiers, on returning 
home after several years of camp experience, have 
found it difficult to endure the confinement of living- 
rooms, with which they had formerly been wholly 
content. 

Dirty Air. — The general apathy as to the neces- 
sity for pure air is simply appalling. A person who 
would not think of wearing a soiled or cast-off gar- 
ment which had been worn by another person, will 
sit in a crowded church or lecture hall, breathing over 
and over again, with entire complacency, air which 
has been soiled by transit through other peoples' 
mouths and lungs and noses many times over. Pure 
air is the most essential of all the necessaries of life ; 
and a knowledge of how to secure an abundant sup- 
ply in every home should be considered an essential 
part of the education of every young man. The fol- 
lowing summary of the principles of ventilation are 
quoted from another work* by the author : — 

* Home Hand-Book of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine. 



THE TWO BREATHS. 261 

How to Ventilate a Home. — In the construction 
of a dwelling, attention should be given to ample pro- 
vision for an adequate supply of fresh and pure air. 
It should be recollected that each person requires not 
less than from forty to sixty cubic feet of pure, fresh 
air per minute, or 2,400 to 3,600 cubic feet per hour. 
To secure this amount of air, requires for each per- 
son an opening not less than one-sixth of a square 
foot in area, and absolute safety requires a still larger 
area. Some fresh air will find its way in through 
cracks between the window-sashes, under and around 
doors, and even through brick walls ; but this is an 
uncertain and inadequate supply, and openings should 
be provided at convenient places for this purpose. 

If provision for the proper ventilation of a house 
is made at the time of its construction, very little 
expense need be incurred; hence the importance of 
giving this matter attention when planning a dwelling. 
The following is a brief summary of the principles of 
correct ventilation, which ought to be familiar to every 
one whether interested in house-building or not : — 

1. For efficient ventilation of each room in the build- 
ing, two openings are necessary, one for the entrance 
of fresh air, and one for the egress of foul air. 

2. When the fresh air enters a room warm, as 
when furnaces are used for heating, the foul-air opening 
should be at the bottom, as the oldest air in the room, 
and consequently the most impure, will be that which 
has been in the room the longest, and has been grad- 
ually cooled by contact with outside walls and window 
surfaces. When a room is heated by stoves, the foul- 
air opening should be near the ceiling. 



262 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

3. The size of the openings depends upon the number 
of persons to be supplied with air. It may be laid 
down as a general rule that an opening twenty-four 
inches square in both inlet and outlet is required 
for each individual in a room. The opening should 
be of sufficient size to allow a passage of at least three 
thousand cubic feet of air per hour, without creating 
too perceptible drafts. Air cannot travel through a 
room more rapidly than fcvs feet a second without a 
current being perceptible. A sick-room needs two or 
three times the ordinary amount of ventilation. 

4. The foul-air openings of rooms should connect 
with heated ventilating shafts. Cold-air shafts are un- 
certain ventilators. They are not to be relied upon. The 
amount of draft in the shaft depends upon the hight 
of the shaft and the amount of heat in it. Various 
methods of heating the ventilating shaft may be adopted. 
In a building heated by steam, steam pipes may be 
employed. In ordinary dwellings, the waste heat of 
smoke-pipes or chimneys may be utilized for the pur- 
pose. An oil-stove or a gas-jet may be used for heat- 
ing small shafts in dwellings ; or a small stove may 
be used to accomplish the same purpose in larger 
shafts. 

5. Rooms on different stories should not open into 
the same ventilating shaft, as the upper rooms are 
certain, under various circumstances, to receive the foul 
air from the rooms below. 

How to Test the Air. — The air of a room may be 
tested as to its purity by the following simple method, 
which is quoted from the same work : — 

The materials required to perform the test are a sup- 



THE TWO BREATHS. 263 

ply of perfectly clear, saturated lime-water and four 
bottles or jars of different sizes, the sizes required being 
the following : One jar or bottle capable of holding ex- 
actly sixteen ounces, or one pint ; a second holding ten 
and one-half ounces; a third holding eight ounces or 
one-half pint; and a fourth capable of holding six and 
one-half ounces. The jars should have necks large 
enough to admit of perfect cleaning of the whole inside, 
and the greatest pains should be taken to remove every 
particle of dirt or dust from the inside as well as the 
outside, with water. To apply the test, fill the jar with 
the water to be tested. This may be done either by 
drawing the air out of the bottle through a straw or 
tube, or by filling it with pure water, and letting the 
water escape. Great care should be taken in sucking the 
air out of the bottle, that the breath is not allowed to 
enter. To determine the amount of carbonic acid pres- 
ent, use the smallest jar first. After filling it in the 
manner described, pour in a large tablespoonful of clear 
lime-water. Close the mouth with a clean stopper, and 
shake vigorously for a minute or two. If the lime- 
water becomes cloudy, carbonic acid is present in the 
air in the proportion of ten parts to ten thousand. If it 
does not become cloudy, repeat the experiment with 
the next size, or the half-pint jar. If the lime-water 
becomes cloudy in this, the proportion of carbonic acid 
is eight parts in ten thousand. This proportion may 
often be found in the rooms of dwelling-houses, and 
sometimes in crowded streets and narrow alleys. If the 
lime-water does not become cloudy in a jar of this size, 
the next size should be used in the same manner. The 
cloudiness appearing in this jar, indicates the presence 



264- MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

of six parts in ten thousand. This is the largest pro- 
portion that can exist without actual danger to life. If 
no cloudiness appears without the employment of the 
largest jar, the proportion is only four parts of carbonic 
acid to ten thousand of pure air. 

Sitting-rooms, study-rooms, offices, and sleeping- 
rooms require special care respecting ventilation, as 
many hours are often spent consecutively in such rooms, 
either in sleeping or in close application, which requires 
the highest degree of purity of air obtainable. An im- 
pure atmosphere renders the brain sluggish and the mind 
obtuse. Drowsiness is often encouraged by an impure 
atmosphere ; but healthful sleep cannot be obtained in 
an atmosphere charged with impurities. 



~^^|BI1«^ 



The Eum Family. 




greater calamity can befall a quiet, peaceful 
community than to have a bad family move 
into it. But no neighborhood ever suffered 
more from the bad influence of a family of 
wicked persons than from the effects invaria- 
bly produced in any city or village by the 
advent of the rum family, with its numerous 
progeny of vices, irregularities, and crimes. 
We propose to devote this chapter to a con- 
sideration of the leading traits and character- 
istics of the rum family, and to make our readers suffi- 
ciently well acquainted with the various members of the 
family to convince them that they are all unsafe asso- 
ciates for young men, or indeed for any one who wishes 
to maintain his self-respect, and his standing as a useful 
member of society. 

The original alcohol family contains half a dozen or 
more members, some of whom, although naturally in- 
clined to evil, have become useful members of society ; 
while others have been the means of a vast deal of harm. 
The four best known to the public have been supplied 
with names by the chemist, to distinguish them from 
each other, and are known as methylic alcohol, ethylic 
alcohol, amylic alcohol, and butylic alcohol. 

[265] 



266 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The first of these, niethylic alcohol, is commonly 
known as naphtha. Methylic alcohol, or wood naphtha, 
is derived from the distillation of wood. It produces 
intoxication very quickly when drunk ; but its effects 
are very transient, owing to its great volatility. It is 
not often used as an intoxicant, but has been so em- 
ployed by persons of peculiar taste, or confirmed inebri- 
ates who were prevented from obtaining their customary 
allowance of grog. The author once had a patient who 
on several occasions swallowed half a pint of naphtha, 
when brandy or whisky could not be obtained. 

Ethylic alcohol, or wine spirit, is the intoxicating 
element of spirituous liquors, and is obtained by the dis- 
tillation of fermented liquids. The most common form 
in which it is used as a beverage is in brandy, whisky, 
beer, wine, etc. It is seldom found pure in commerce, 
being usually mixed with water. This variety of alco- 
hol is more intoxicating in its effects and more injurious 
to the vital tissues than the preceding. 

Butylic alcohol is generally obtained by the fermen- 
tation of the beet root. It is also, perhaps, produced in 
the fermentation which occurs in butter and cheese 
when they become old and rancid, since these substances 
contain an acid known as butyric acid, which is derived 
from this kind of alcohol. It is this which gives to 
frowy or rancid butter and very old cheese their peculiar 
flavor. This member of the family is still more active 
in intoxicating properties than those already mentioned, 
producing an intoxication which is very slowly recovered 
from, and in which there is very low prostration, trem- 
bling of the muscles, and severe coldness. 

Amylic alcohol, or fusel-oil, is produced by the fer- 



THE BUM FAMILY. 267 



mentation of potatoes, and also, to some extent, by the 
fermentation of grains and fruits. It has a burning 
taste and pungent odor, and is the characteristic constit- 
uent of bad whisky. A few drops of fusel-oil will pro- 
duce as profound an intoxication as a considerable quan- 
tity of ordinary alcohol, which accounts for the infuriat- 
ing and deadly effects of bad whisky, as well as 
its rapidly fatal effects, as often seen among miners, 
negroes, and Indians. The deadly effects of cheap rum 
from the West Indies have become so manifest in some 
of the South Sea Islands, controlled by the English 
government, that it has become necessary to prohibit its 
introduction. 

There are several other alcohols closely allied to 
those mentioned, and with similar properties, besides 
numerous other compounds which are classed by chem- 
ists in the " alcohol series," among which are the well- 
known substances, carbolic acid and creosote, the caustic 
and poisonous properties of which are too well known to 
require other than mere mention. If not own brothers, 
these compounds are at least cousins of " the demon of 
the cup." 

Intoxication. — Each member of the alcohol family 
is capable of producing poisonous or intoxicating effects. 
In fact, they are all poisons, the effects of which have 
been termed intoxication, although the word "intoxica- 
tion," when strictly used, means simply poisoning, and 
is properly applied to the condition of the system when 
laboring under the influence of any poison whatever. 
This use of the word is not very common in our lan- 
guage, although in the German language it is frequently 
so employed. 



268 Jf^Uy, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The Properties of Alcohol. — Perhaps the reader 
will be interested in the following remarks made by the 
author in a lecture at a temperance convocation a few 
years ago : — 

Here is a test for alcohol : If you drop a little of this 
fluid into any substance containing alcohol, there will 
appear a very marked greenish color. Here is a glass 
vessel containing alcohol. I put a little of the test into 
it, and there is at once a perceptible change of color. 
Here is a vessel containing brandy. I need not tell you 
that it contains alcohol, for you see that the application 
of the test shows it at once. In the same way I will 
test the liquid contained in these other vessels, which are 
whisky, ale, gin, and hard cider. You see that the green 
color is very deep in each one. Here is some beer. I 
drop in a little of the test, and you see at once a green 
tinge spreading through the foam that rises up in the 
tube, and also gathering at the bottom. This is pre- 
sumptive proof that there is alcohol in beer. 

Poison in Bitters. — I have some other things here 
that I propose to test. There are a number of good peo- 
ple in the world who would not think of touching a 
drop of gin or whisky, but do not have the slightest ob- 
jection to taking a glass of bitters every morning. 
They will recommend you to take a little bitters for 
your stomach's sake. Here is a bottle of Hostetter's 
Stomach Bitters. I pour a little of it into this tube, 
and apply the test. You see how green it turns. It 
has almost as much alcohol in it as Scotch Whisky. 
Look at this sample of Jamaica Ginger. I put in only a 
few drops of the test, and it turns as green as the gin. 
It has just enough ginger in it to flavor the alcohol. 



THE RUM FAMILY. 269 



Here we have a bottle of " Temperance Bitters," or 
at least what is advertised as such. This is Dr. Walker's 
California Vinegar Bitters. The proprietor is taking an 
active part in the temperance work on the Pacific 
Coast. He is one of the most zealous advocates of 
temperance in the State, and publishes a temperance 
almanac to advertise his "bitters," which he declares 
contain no alcohol. Let me read you what is printed on 
the paper that goes around the bottle : " Dr. J. 
Walker's California Vegetable Vinegar Bitters, the 
Great Blood Purifier and Life-giving Principle. A 
remedy for dyspepsia, indigestion, consumption, sore 
eyes, stomach-ache, fits, palpitation of the heart, bilious- 
ness, etc., etc., tape, pin and other worms. No alcohol 
enters into the composition of the bitters. That curse 
is not offered for medicine. Nothing but invigorating 
and purifying herbs give them their wonderful powers 
to cure." In order to determine the amount of alcohol 
contained in a bottle of the bitters, I had half a bottle 
distilled by the chemist, and in this flask you see the 
product of the distillation. By means of the alcoholo- 
meter, it has been found to contain twenty per cent of 
alcohol. Now we apply the test. There is as beautiful 
a green as you could desire to see. I will guarantee 
this bottle of bitters to contain five per cent of alcohol. 

Fire- Water. — Now let me call your attention to some 
of the physical properties of alcohol. It is combustible, 
as you all know. I will touch a match to some of this 
Jamaica Ginger. See how it flames up. It continues to 
burn as I pour it from one vessel to another. How evi- 
dently appropriate is the Indian's name for alcohol, " fire- 
water " ! 



270 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

In addition to this, alcohol is a desiccant, that is, it 
is drying in its character. I have been using some of it 
as a drier. I put this piece of steak into alcohol a few 
days ago, and I think it would now answer very well as 
a tap for a boot. After a few weeks, it will become so 
dry that I could rub it in pieces with my fingers. 

An Alcohol Omelette. — This egg which I hold in my 
hand is the representative of an animal. The complete 
fowl is not here. If you place it under the proper con- 
ditions, that is, if you simply keep it warm, — you know 
we have artificial " mothers " nowadays, — it will de- 
velop into a full-fledged chicken. We can take the 
effect of alcohol upon this egg as a sample of what 
it will do to the human body. As I break the egg 
into a vessel containing whisky, you see that it 
turns white, and it will soon become as hard as though 
it were dropped into boiling water. If the vessel had 
contained pure alcohol, it would become so hard in a 
short time that I could turn the vessel up-side down 
without spilling out the egg. Alcohol has the same dry- 
ing and hardening effect upon the human body. The liver, 
the heart, and in fact the whole body, is made up prin- 
cipally of albumen and fibrine, the substances which 
compose the egg. 

A Human Pickle. — Besides its drying properties, al- 
cohol is also an antiseptic ; that is, it possesses the prop- 
erty of preventing decay in perishable substances. Some 
one may say that if alcohol prevents decay, it ought to 
be valuable in preventing the decay and death of the 
human body. In fact, a young man once told me that 
his grandfather had taken, during his life, a hogshead 
of Jamaica rum, and he was sure that it had been 
the means of preserving him to a good old age. 



THE BUM FAMILY. 271 



During the Centennial year, while I was in Wil- 
mington, Delaware, I heard of a man who was one 
hundred and seventeen years old on the fourth of July. 
I was paying a good deal of attention to the subject 
of hygiene just at that time, and I thought perhaps 
he had lived so long because he was temperate in his 
habits. Upon inquiry, however, I found that he was 
an inveterate smoker, and that for a hundred years he 
had taken his toddy regularly. This was quite a dis- 
appointment, but I resolved to see him, nevertheless. 
When I found him, I thought that whisky had not 
done so much for him after all. He hardly looked 
like a human being, he was so dried and shriveled up. 
He looked like some of those strange creatures that 
Stanley saw in Africa. After seeing him, I came to the 
conclusion that he was a human pickle. He had been 
pickled by the use of alcohol, and had in reality been 
dead for the last thirty or forty years, though his 
friends had neglected to bury him. 

It is through its antiseptic properties that alcohol in- 
terferes with the process of digestion. The process of 
digestion is in some respects similar to that of fermenta- 
tion. If you keep meat in alcohol, it will never decay. 
If, therefore, you take alcohol into the stomach after each 
meal, you will interfere with the process of digestion 
which is going on there, and will in time seriously im- 
pair the digestive functions of the stomach. Alcohol also 
destroys the pepsin of the gastric juice. 

The Whisky Breath. — In the next place, alcohol is 
volatile. Many who use whisky wish it was not ; for it 
is this property which enables any one to detect a man 
who has been drinking, by the odor of his breath. This 



272 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

is the reason why some people carry cloves and things of 
that sort in their pockets to chew on frequent occasions. 

Alcohol an Irritant. — That alcohol is an irritant, 
may be readily shown by placing a drop of it in the eye. 
I recently had a patient who was suffering with a dis- 
ease of the eye, for which I prescribed a solution of atro- 
pia to be placed in the eye. The druggist used a solu- 
tion of atropia in alcohol for making the lotion, and the 
effect on the eye of the patient was so irritating that she 
came very near losing it, although the solution contained 
not more than ten drops of alcohol to the ounce. If, 
then, it is irritating on the outside, how much more dan- 
gerous must be its effect on the inside, when it comes in 
contact with those delicate little cells which do our think- 
ing and feeling for us, and perform all the work of the 
body. 

How Alcohol Stimulates. — Alcohol is often called a 
stimulant, and so it is, if we use the word in its proper 
sense. A stimulant is well defined by an English phy- 
sician as " something that gets strength out of a man in- 
stead of putting it into him." There is a general idea 
that drinking whisky makes a man stronger ; but this is 
a mistake. A whip is a stimulant to a tired horse ; it 
makes him go faster, but it does not make him any 
stronger. This is precisely the effect that alcohol has 
upon the human body. Experiments show that a man 
is actually weaker, that he cannot lift so much after he 
has taken a drink of liquor as he could before. A man 
who has just had a glass of whisky, feels as though he 
could run faster, lift more, or make a better speech, than 
he ever did before in his life ; but the fact is that both 
his muscular and mental powers have been impaired* 
The feeling of strength is apparent, not real. 



THE BUM FAMILY. 273 



Let us now notice a few of the arguments against the 
use of alcohol, which scientific research has developed. 

L Alcohol a Poison to Plants. — Vital properties 
are pretty much the same in a general way, whether 
manifested by a mushroom or a man ; and any substance 
which will destroy the life of a plant is not likely to be 
wholesome to human beings. If a plant be watered with 
a solution of alcohol, its leaves soon wither, turn yellow, 
and the plant dies, even when the proportion of alcohol 
is so small as one part in one thousand parts of water. 

J?, Alcohol a Poison to Animals. — A tadpole, when 
dropped into a vessel containing alcohol, dies in a minute. 
Leeches and other small animals succumb in like manner. 

A New York journal recently reported a series of ex- 
periments by a French physician on the influence of al- 
coholic liquors on fowls, as follows : — 

" He administered to them brandy and absinthe, and 
found one and all to take so kindly to their unwonted 
stimulants that he was forced to limit each bird to a daily 
allowance of six cubic centimeters of spirits, or twelve of 
wine. There was an extraordinary development of cocks' 
crests, and a rapid and general loss of flesh. The ex- 
periments were continued until it appeared that two 
months' absinthe-drinking sufficed to kill the strongest 
cock or hen ; while the brandy-drinkers lived four months 
and a half, and the wine-bibbers held on for ten months 
before they died the drunkard's death." 

Drunken Goats. — Some Pennsylvania beer-sellers 
tried the effects of beer upon a goat. Whether the ex- 
periment was for the purpose of determining the quality 
of the beer, or the constitutional toughness of the goat, 
is not recorded ; but the result was fatal to the goat, 

18 



274 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



notwithstanding the hardihood for which he is proverbial. 
Just how many glasses were required to extinguish him, 
is not mentioned ; but he died, and the high quality of 
the beer was established beyond the possibility of cavil. 

But this is not the end of the story. The Humane 
Society heard of the proceeding, and immediately began 
an action against the beer-venders for cruelty to animals. 
The action was undoubtedly justifiable ; but it is a mat- 
ter of wonderment that the same law-makers who have 
made it an offense to kill goats with beer, have never 
once thought of its being a crime to kill human beings by 
the same means, although there are millions of human 
beings sacrificed in this way, to one goat. It is to be 
hoped that the question of prohibition will be agitated 
until human beings are at least as well protected as goats. 

Swine Topers. — The eminent Dr. Dujardin Beaumetz, 
of Paris, has been engaged for some years in conducting 
experiments to ascertain the effects of alcohol upon 
various animals, chiefly pigs, and finds it to be uniformly 
that of a poison. A brilliant writer wittily says, " If 
lower animals were addicted to the drug to one-tenth the 
degree man is, in a short time there would not remain 
upon the face of the earth an animal which would be 
tamable, workable, or eatable." 

3. Alcohol a Poison to Human Beings. — Notwith- 
standing the apparent impunity with which diluted alcohol 
in the form of various liquors may be taken, pure alcohol 
is rapidly and certainly fatal when taken into the 
stomach without dilution. Cases of instant death from 
drinking a considerable quantity of strong liquor have 
often been recorded ; and numerous instances of death 
from this cause are constantly occurring in every large 



THE BUM FAMILY. 275 



city. As we shall show hereafter, alcohol in every form 
is still a poison, the rapidity of its effects being largely 
determined by the degree of dilution in which it is 
introduced into the system. 

4. Alcohol an Irritant. — The irritating effects of 
alcohol are readily observed by placing a drop upon a 
raw surface. Even a very dilute solution will produce 
intense suffering. Still more profound, though for a 
time less irritating, effects are produced when the alcohol 
is absorbed into the system, and comes in immediate 
contact with the delicate internal structures of the body. 

5. Alcohol a Narcotic. — Its first effects are excit- 
ing; but like most substances of similar nature, its 
secondary and more prominent effect is that of a narcotic. 
It benumbs the sensibilities. If a man is exhausted, it 
relieves the sense of fatigue by obtunding his senses, 
not by replenishing his wasted energy. Persons who 
have died from an overdose of alcohol, present all the 
indications of narcotic poisoning. 

6. Alcohol an Ancesthetic. — A tablespoonful of 
strong alcohol, held in the mouth for two or three 
minutes, will obtund the sense of taste so as to render a 
person unable to distinguish sweet from sour, saline 
from bitter. If taken in a sufficient quantity, it will 
relieve the sense of pain sufficiently to enable a surgeon 
to perform an operation with little or no suffering on 
the part of the patient. A few years ago we employed 
it successfully as an anaesthetic to enable us to perform 
an operation upon the eyes. The patient, a lady, 
asserted that she felt scarcely any pain, although the 
operation involved the most sensitive portions of the 
eye, and required fully half an hour for its performance, 
as both eyes were operated upon. 



276 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

7. Alcohol Not a Food. — The aristocratic toper, 
who wishes to give an air of respectability to his vice, 
will claim that alcohol is a food. He will cite, in proof, 
instances in which persons have lived for weeks by the 
aid of no other nutriment, taking nothing but alcohol 
and water. This semblance of argument scarcely needs 
exposure ; for the most it can be claimed to prove is the 
fact that persons have lived several weeks while taking 
only alcohol and water. The fact that individuals have 
in several instances been known to live from thirty to 
sixty days while taking only water, shows conclusively 
that those who survived a shorter time on brandy and 
water, lived in spite of the alcohol instead of by its aid. 

8. Alcohol Makes Bad Blood. — Those who have 
maintained that alcohol is a food, have made many 
experiments for the purpose of establishing their theory 
upon scientific grounds. By these experiments, it has 
been found that the urine and other excretions contain 
less of the worn-out material of the tissues when a person 
is using alcohol than when he is abstaining. From this 
alone it is concluded that alcohol prevents the wearing 
out, or disintegration, of tissue, — a most astonishing 
conclusion. No one but a man stoutly prejudiced in 
favor of alcohol would think of forming such a conclusion. 
A far more rational deduction from the premises would 
be that the presence of alcohol in the system prevents 
the excretory organs from eliminating from the body 
the dead and poisonous products which result from the 
wearing out of the tissues. 

It is on account of this impure state of the system 
that the flesh of spirit drinkers is notoriously so difficult 
to heal in cases of wounds or surgical operations. 



TEE RUM FAMILY. 277 

9. Alcohol Destroys the Blood. — When this fiery 
drug is taken into the stomach, it is soon absorbed into 
the circulation, where it comes in contact with the cor- 
puscles of the blood. The effect upon these delicate and 
important structures we can study by applying alcohol 
to the blood outside of the body ; for the corpuscles will 
retain their life and activity for a time after being re- 
moved from the body, if placed under proper conditions. 
To make sure of no mistake about this matter, we will 
perform the experiment while we write. Our microscope, 
which will magnify one million times, being in readiness, 
we thrust a needle into the finger, and thus obtain a tiny 
drop of blood. Placing it upon a glass slide, we adjust 
it upon the instrument, and look at it. Although the 
film of blood in view is so thin as to be transparent, it is 
crowded with beautiful bi-concave disks, the reel blood 
corpuscles, each of which is perfectly formed, though 
only one thirty-five hundredth of an inch in diameter. 
Now we apply a drop of alcohol, a very tiny drop. 
Mark the effect. No sooner does it touch these little 
bodies, than they begin to shrink, and soon lose all 
resemblance to their natural appearance. In a short 
time they can be seen breaking up into fragments ; and 
in five minutes from the commencement of the experi- 
ment, the once beautiful and symmetrical bodies which 
compose one-half of the blood, are reduced to broken 
fragments and shapeless masses. They have been fairly 
cut in pieces and eaten up by the alcohol. 

Rum Choking. — "But what harm does this do?" 
says the toper or the moderate drinker ; " the loss of a 
few blood corpuscles cannot be of any great consequence." 
The ultimate effects are the same as though the supply 



278 XA2T, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

of air was cut off from the lungs by a cord tightly 
drawn around the neck. The business of the red corpus- 
cles is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. 
If they are destroyed, oxygen cannot be carried in 
sufficient amount, and the blood becomes foul, being 
charged with large quantities of carbonic acid, a poi- 
sonous substance which ought to be replaced by oxygen. 
One of the quickest ways of destroying life now known, 
is to cause an animal to inhale a poisonous gas known as 
carbonous oxide, which has the effect to paralyze all the 
blood corpuscles. Alcohol does the same thing just in 
proportion to the quantity taken. 

10. Aleoholie Degeneration. — In addition to its 
effects upon the corpuscles, alcohol produces other se- 
rious changes. One of the most important of these is 
coagulation, or thickening of the fibrine of the blood, 
occasioning the formation of little clots, which are swept 
along in the blood current until they reach the finest 
capillaries, where they are lodged, thus obstructing the 
circulation, and, according to the eminent Prof. Carpen- 
ter, of England, constituting the first beginning of or- 
ganic disease of the nerve centers and other important 
organs. These minute clots are often the cause of boils 
and other troublesome abscesses ; and when they become 
enlarged, as they sometimes do, they may produce 
instant death by the plugging up of a large artery in the 
brain, — an accident which there is every reason to believe 
is not uncommon in cases in which large quantities of 
alcoholic spirits are taken. 

Alcohol also greatly increases the amount of fat in 
the blood, probably by preventing the changes necessary 
to complete digestion or assimilation of the fat. In 



THE RUM FAMILY. 279 



consequence of this surplus of free fat in the blood, fatty 
degeneration of the heart, blood-vessels, liver, kidneys, 
and in fact of every part of the body, is induced, the fat 
particles being deposited in these various organs in place 
of their proper tissue. 

It may further be objected that these changes do 
not occur unless very large quantities of alcohol are 
used. This, again, is an error. Dr. Carpenter is au- 
thority for the assertion that the changes in the cor- 
puscles and the fibrine of the blood take place when not 
more than one part of alcohol to five hundred of blood is 
employed. Thus it will be seen that the very weakest 
wines are unsafe, since none of them contain less than 
three to five per cent. Even small beer would be capa- 
ble of doing mischief in this way. 

11. A Drunkard's Heart. — When alcohol is taken 
into the blood, it soon comes in contact with the nerve 
centers which govern the action of the heart. Its effects 
are the same as upon the other nerve centers. It par- 
alyzes them, just as chloroform does the brain. Then 
the heart is like a steam-engine without a governor, 
or a clock from which the pendulum weight has been 
removed. It runs down with wonderful rapidity. This 
effect is largely due, also, to the influence of alcohol upon 
the small blood-vessels ; the nerves which control them 
becoming paralyzed, they become dilated or relaxed, 
and so afford less resistance to the action of the heart, 
allowing it to beat too rapidly. This increased action is 
most unfortunately mistaken for increase in strength on 
the part of the organ, when it is mere increase of action 
— wasted force. The amount of extra work done by 
the heart under the influence of liquor may be readily 



280 MAN, TEE MASTERFIZUE. 

estimated. Dr. Parkes, by a series of careful experi- 
ments, found that the pulse of a man whose heart beat 
about seventy-four times a minute, or 106,560 times in 
twenty-four hours, when drinking only water, was, when 
under the influence of one ounce of alcohol per day, 
compelled to beat 430 times more in a day. Two ounces 
of alcohol per day caused an increase of 1,872 beats a 
day. Four ounces required 12,960 extra beats a day. 
Six ounces drove the pulse up to 18,432 extra beats ; 
and eight ounces, to 25,488 unnecessary beats, or 
nearly one quarter more than when taking only water. 

A Toper's Pulse. — The pulse of a toper is charac- 
teristic. It is weak, frequent, easily quickened, even 
by very slight exercise, and very irregular. Alcohol 
has a directly depressing influence upon the heart, dimin- 
ishing its power for work, and rendering it subject to 
both functional and organic disease. 

12. The Whisky Flush. — The local blood supply of 
the body is regulated by means of special nerves, which 
follow the blood-vessels from the heart to their minutest 
distribution. One of the effects of alcohol is to paralyze 
the centers in which these nerves originate, which ren- 
ders the vessels unnaturally dilated, allowing too much 
blood to enter various parts, thus occasioning congestion 
and even inflammation. In this way the lungs, liver, 
heart, or any other portion of the body, may become dis- 
eased. It is this which causes the drunkard's face to 
flush ; and not only the face, but the whole body — the 
brain, the liver, every vital organ — is in the same state 
of congestion. Is it any wonder that the toper feels 
depressed and enervated, and in need of a " pick me up " 
the next morning after a debauch ? or that he falls so 



THE BUM FAMILY. 281 



easy a victim to causes of disease which others escape ? 
It was long ago observed that drunkards were the 
favorite victims of cholera, the plague, sun-stroke, and 
other causes of speedy death. The system is prepared, 
by the paralyzing influence of the drug, for almost any 
form of disease to which human flesh is heir. 

13. A Toddy Blossom. — One of the signs of intem- 
perance, which its victims put forth the most strenuous 
efforts to suppress, is that peculiar enlargement of the 
nose, with intense redness, so appropriately termed the 
" rum blossom." The effect of alcohol is to paralyze 
the nerves of the blood-vessels ; and when its frequent 
use occasions the almost constant paralysis and engorge- 
ment of the blood-vessels of the face and nose, more 
particularly the latter, it grows too fast, and by this 
means may acquire enormous size. 

14. The Drunkard's Brain. — The brain, when it is 
healthy, is so soft that it would scarcely retain its shape if 
it were not for the skull. The sharpest knife is required 
to cut it without mangling its structure. It is necessary 
to immerse the organ in alcohol for weeks, or even 
months, in order to harden it, when a careful examina- 
tion is necessary. But a drunkard's brain presents a 
marked contrast. It is already hardened — pickled 
almost. In the dissecting room, it affords rare pleasure 
for a medical student to secure the desiccated brain of an 
old toper. A celebrated anatomist declared that he 
could tell a drunkard's brain in the dark, by the sense 
of touch alone. A London physician reported a case in 
which he found, upon making a post-mortem examination, 
so strong an odor of alcohol emanating from the brain 
that when he applied a match to it, it burst into flame. 



282 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The quantity of alcohol in the brain is sometimes so great 
that it can be collected by distillation after death. 

It must not be supposed that every drunkard's brain 
is as hard as a pickled one ; but it may be fairly sup- 
posed that the hardening effect of alcohol has no little 
influence in the production of degenerations of the brain, 
such as result in various forms of progressive paralysis. 
Numerous functional disorders of this organ are also 
traceable directly to the habitual use of alcoholic liquors. 
Locomotor ataxia, an almost hopeless malady, involving 
the brain and spinal cord, is very often the result of in- 
temperance. 

15. Alcoholic Apoplexy. — The intense congestion 
of the brain induced by alcohol is the very condition in 
which apoplexy, or rupture of a blood-vessel, is most 
likely to occur. When the walls of the arteries have 
been weakened by fatty degeneration, the danger is in- 
creased many fold. 

It has been claimed that old persons require alcohol 
on account of the diminished activity of their vital func- 
tions. The fact above stated shows clearly that in old 
age the danger from the use of alcoholic liquors is greatly 
increased. 

16. Alcoholized Nerves. — Who has not observed 
the trembling, unsteady hand of the man who has long 
been accustomed to the use of alcoholic liquors ? Often 
his shaking hand deposits a share of the poisonous dram 
upon the ground. If he is a mechanic, he cannot resume 
his work without a strong toddy " to steady his hand ; " if 
an accountant, he must have a glass to " clear his head." 
This condition, at first temporary, finally becomes per- 
manent, and thus hopeless disease may originate. 



THE BUM FAMILY. 283 

IT. The Drunkard's Stomach. — We have endeav- 
ored to illustrate by colored plates the contrast between 
a healthy stomach and a stomach affected by alcoholic 
disease. 

Figure 1, Plate XXIV., represents a healthy stom- 
ach. By the removal of the anterior wall of the stomach, 
the mucous membrane lining the interior is also shown. 
We would direct special attention to the uniform rosy 
tint characteristic of the healthy state of this organ, in 
which digestion, one of the most important of the vital 
processes, is performed. The stomach is a hollow organ, 
and physiologists have succeeded in making a permanent 
opening into its interior in some of the lower animals, 
through which they could watch the organ at work, 
and study the effects of the various substances which 
were introduced through the mouth, or through the arti- 
ficial opening. Accident has, in several cases made the 
same observation possible in human beings. One of the 
most notable cases was that of Alexis St. Martin, an em- 
ployee of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, who, in the 
early part of this century, received a gun-shot wound, 
which carried away a considerable portion of the ab- 
dominal wall, and perforated the stomach. The wound 
healed in such a way as to leave a permanent opening 
into the stomach, through which the process of diges- 
tion, and the effects of various substances upon the 
stomach and digestion, could be accurately observed for 
many years. Dr. Beaumont made a careful study of the 
effects of alcohol upon the stomach of this man. 

18. The Stomach of a Moderate Drinker. — Figure 
2, Plate XXIV., represents the condition of the stomach 
of a person accustomed to use alcoholic drinks in what 



284 MAN t TEE MASTERPIECE. 



is known as " moderation ; " as, for example, a man who 
takes his glass of grog before breakfast or at dinner, or 
a bowl of sling as a " night-cap." The mucous membrane 
of the stomach is in a state of congestion. This con- 
gested condition was observed by Dr. Beaumont in the 
stomach of Alexis St. Martin whenever he was allowed 
to take alcoholic drinks, of which he was very fond, 
even in moderate quantity. The effect of alcohol, as 
well as that of mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, spices, 
and condiments, is to produce a state of excitement and 
irritation in the stomach, the result of which, when 
frequently repeated, is permanent congestion, and is the 
cause of numerous forms of dyspepsia. But alcohol 
does more than simply irritate the stomach. By its 
antiseptic influence, it prevents the digestion of the food; 
and by its chemical properties, it destroys the action of 
the gastric juice, and so does triple mischief. 

19. The Stomach of a Hard Drinker. — Figure 3, 
Plate XXIV., represents the actual state of things 
which has been found existing in the stomachs of persons 
accustomed to use alcoholic liquors daily in large quan- 
tities. The blood-vessels are dilated, as in the case of 
the moderate drinker ; and in addition, small ulcers are 
scattered 'over the diseased surface. The stomach of an 
old toper might be in the condition shown in this plate 
without his being conscious of the fact, as the nerves of 
the stomach are so paralysed by alcohol that their nor- 
mal sensibility is quite lost. 

20. The Stomach in Delirium Tremens. — Figure 4, 
Plate XXIV., represents in a very faint degree the 
terrible condition present in the stomach of a victim of 
alcoholic poisoning, suffering with what is generally 




PLATE XXIV.— Effects of Alcohol. 



THE RUM FAMILY. 285 



known as " delirium tremens," or acute alcoholism. The 
mucous lining of the stomach is in a state of intense 
inflammation, so that its functions are wholly suspended. 
In a case which we had under treatment a few years 
ago, we found the patient at our first visit suffering most 
intense nausea. He had been vomiting incessantly for 
two or three days. The smallest sip of water could not 
be retained upon the stomach. Great quantities of mucus 
were vomited, together with blood. During such an 
attack, the patient generally feels little pain, and often 
refers his symptoms to his stomach, since his sensibilities 
are so benumbed that he is unconscious of his real con- 
dition. Dr. Beaumont observed, on one occasion when 
Alexis St. Martin had been drinking heavily for a few 
days, that although his stomach was in a state of inflam- 
mation and ulceration, he was insensible of pain, and felt 
no inconvenience, only suffering from a severe headache. 
Post-mortem examination of persons who have died of 
delirium tremens usually discloses the stomach black 
with mortification. 

21. Alcoholic Insanity. — The condition of a man 
under the influence of liquor is precisely the same as 
that of an insane man as regards his mind. When the 
act of getting drunk is frequently repeated, the condition 
of the mind induced by drink may become permanent, 
when the individual is a fit subject for an insane asylum. 

22. A Drunkard's Liver. — The appearance of a 
drunkard's liver is characteristic. " Hob-nailed liver " is 
another name for the diseased organ as found in spirit 
drinkers. It is shrunken, hard, and almost totally use- 
less, insensible alike to pain and proper sensibility. 
Externally, it looks like the hob-nailed sole of an English 



286 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

cartman's shoe, from which resemblance it received its 
name. 

23. Beer and Bright' s Disease. — The idea that beer 
is harmless because it contains but a small proportion of 
alcohol, has been wholly refuted by the observation that 
Bright's disease and other maladies of the kidneys are 
far more frequent among beer-drinkers than among any 
other class of men. 

24. Drunkard's Dropsy. — The bloated features of 
the sot indicate too plainly for mistake the dropsical 
tendency of the alcohol habit ; and the ultimate effects of 
the poison upon the liver and kidneys, as already de- 
scribed, lay the foundation for one of the most incurable 
of all the forms of dropsy. We have seen many cases 
of dropsy induced in this way, and recovery, even under 
the most favorable circumstances, has been very rare in- 
deed. 

25. Alcoholic Consumption. — Dr. Richardson points 
out the fact that alcohol, instead of preventing, actually 
produces consumption, and that of the most fatal type. 
He states that a person suffering from alcoholic phthisis 
shows no improvement under treatment. The disease 
steadily, surely, and usually quite rapidly, progresses to 
a fatal termination. 

26. Alcohol vs. Strength. — The laborer, the trav- 
eler, and the soldier use alcohol under the delusion that 
it strengthens. When fatigued, the laborer takes a glass 
of grog, and feels better, or thinks he does. He imag- 
ines himself stronger. His increased strength, however, 
is wholly a matter of imagination. Experiments show 
that a man can lift less when under the influence of al- 
cohol than without it. 



THE BUM FAMILY. 287 



27. Aleoholized Muscles. — Among the other degen- 
erations produced by alcohol, fatty degeneration of the 
muscles should be mentioned. This degeneration con- 
sists in a change of the proper muscular tissue to fat. 
The process may involve all the muscles of the body, or 
simply a few, as those of the heart and blood-vessels. 
It is an injury which can in no way be repaired, and 
must inevitably end in death, sooner or later. 

28. Alcohol vs. Animal Heat. — The sensation of 
warmth produced by taking a glass of wine or brandy is 
delusive. The circulation is unbalanced, and for a few 
moments there is a seeming increase of heat ; but the 
thermometer shows that there is a decrease in the tem- 
perature. Says Dr. Parkes, the eminent English san- 
itarian, "All observers condemn the use of spirits, 
even of wine or beer, as a preventive against cold." The 
names of Dr. King, Dr. Kane, Capt. Kennedy, and Dr. 
Hayes may be cited as holding this opinion. In the last 
expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, the whole 
crew were teetotalers. 

29. Alcohol a General Disturber in the Vital Econ- 
omy. — Close upon the derangement of the stomach, which 
is certain to come sooner or later with all drinkers, follows 
nearly every other functional disease possible to the hu- 
man system. Every organ is disturbed. The whole 
vital machinery is deranged. Strange noises are heard 
in the head, occasioned by the rushing of hot torrents of 
poisoned blood through the distended blood-vessels of 
the head, which pass near the ear. Black spots and cob- 
web appearances annoy the sight. Alcoholic amaurosis, 
or amblyopia, comes on, and the sight becomes impaired ; 
sometimes blindness follows. The dilated blood-vessels 



288 MAN\ THE MASTERPIECE. 

of the skin become permanently enlarged, especially in 
the face and nose, and the drinker has a rum-blossom. 
Skin diseases of various sorts are likely to appear, par- 
ticularly eczema of the fingers or toes, or on the shins. 
An unquenchable thirst seems to be ever consuming the 
blood, and nothing but alcohol will even temporarily as- 
suage the desire for drink. Notwithstanding, large quan- 
tities of fluids will be taken, often amounting to several 
quarts a day, which overwork the excretory organs. 

The liver and kidneys are disturbed in their func- 
tions, one day being almost totally inactive on account 
of the congestion, and the next rallying to their work, 
and doing double duty. 

Every organ feels the effect of abuse through indul- 
gence in alcohol, and no function is left undisturbed. 
By degrees, disordered function, through long continued 
disturbance, induces tissue change. The imperfectly re- 
paired organs suffer more and more in structure, until 
the most extensive and disastrous changes have taken 
place. 

30. Alcohol vs. Longevity. — It is not very easy to 
prove that the influence of alcohol, as of every other poi- 
son, is to shorten life. Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, 
shows from statistics that for every ten temperate per- 
sons who die between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, 
fifty-one intemperate persons die. Thus it appears that 
the mortality of liquor-users is five hundred "per cent greater 
than that of temperate persons. These statements are 
based on tables used by life insurance companies. 

31. The Entailments of Alcohol. — The drinker him- 
self is not the only sufferer from his vice. Indeed, it 
seems in many cases that he is not the greatest sufferer. 



THE BUM FAMILY. 289 

He may even live out his threescore years and ten, in 
apparent defiance of the laws of nature and the warnings 
of friends ; but look at his children. Are they as strong 
and robust as he ? — Oh, no ; instead, we often see them 
frail, nervous, imbecile, idiotic, — poor specimens of the 
race. " The iniquities of the father are visited upon the 
children." 

Dr. S. G. Howe attributed one-half the cases of idiocy 
in the State of Massachusetts to intemperance, and he is 
sustained in his opinion by the most reliable authorities. 
Dr. Howe states that there were seven idiots in one fam- 
ily where both parents were drunkards. One-half of the 
idiots in England are of drunken parentage, and the same 
is true of Sweden, and probably of most European coun- 
tries. It is said that in St. Petersburg, most of the idi- 
ots come from drunken parents. 

19 




A Relic of Barbarism. 




HE origin of a custom which has enslaved 
many millions of human beings in its toils, 
which has within a few centuries fixed itself 
so firmly upon the race, and become so wide- 
spread as to be practically universal among 
mankind, whether civilized or savage, cannot 
be without interest to those who are users of 
the weed, as well as to those who wage war 
against this evil practice. The latter, espe- 
cially, will find in the ignoble origin of tobacco- 
using an argument of no little force against this vile 
habit; and it is for this purpose particularly that we 
write. 

Tobacco-Using Discovered. — In the month of No- 
vember, 1492, when Columbus discovered the island of 
Cuba, he sent two sailors to explore it, who reported, 
when they returned, among many other strange and 
curious discoveries, that the natives carried with them 
lighted fire-brands, and puffed smoke from their mouths 
and noses, which they supposed to be the way the sav- 
ages had of perfuming themselves. They afterward 
declared that they " saw the naked savages twist large 
leaves together, and smoke like devils." 

To civilized human beings, this was the first sight of 

[290] 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 291 

the vile habit which has become so common that every 
city, town, and village is actually perfumed, or more 
properly fouled, with the vile stench of the poisonous 
weed. The impression made upon the unsophisticated 
Europeans was evidently not greatly in favor of the 
custom, since they compared the smoking Indians to 
devils. 

Originating with the wild barbarians of America, the 
smoking habit was, after some years, introduced into Eu- 
rope ; and receiving the sanction of the physicians who, 
just at that time, chiefly occupied themselves in search- 
ing for some new nauseous compound with which to 
experiment upon the lives of their patients, it was 
rapidly adopted, not only by the lower classes, but by 
those in high authority, even princes and nobles partici- 
pating in the new intoxication. 

Origin of Snuff -Taking. — It appears that the taking 
of tobacco in the form of snuff was also discovered among 
the savage natives of this continent upon the second 
visit of Columbus to America in 1494. A Roman friar, 
named Pane, who accompanied the expedition, thus de- 
scribes the custom as it then existed among the Indians : 
" After reducing the leaves to a fine powder, they take 
it through a cane half a cubit long ; one end of this they 
place in the nose, and the other upon the powder, and 
so draw it up, which purges them much." 

The purging referred to evidently describes the 
violent sneezing which resulted from the inhalation of 
the powdered poison. If the sailors thought that the 
smoking savages appeared " like devils," they certainly 
must have been ready to compare a party of sneezing 
Indians to a group of lunatics. However, it must be 



292 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

confessed that the charge of lunacy could not be applied 
to the ignorant, barbarian snuff-takers with one-half so 
much propriety as to their civilized and enlightened, but 
certainly not wise, imitators. How so filthy, unnatural, 
and eminently disgusting a habit could ever have been 
cultivated by rational beings, is a most profound mystery. 

Origin of Tobacco-Chewing. — In 1503, when the 
Spaniards landed in Paraguay, the natives attempted to 
repulse them, and came out against them in large num- 
bers, beating drums, throwing water, and " chewing herbs 
and spurting the juice toward them." The herb employed 
was tobacco, and the object of its use in the peculiar 
manner indicated was to get the poisonous juice into the 
eyes of the intruders, and thus disable them by depriving 
them of sight. From this it would seem that tobacco- 
chewing was first practiced as a means of defense, for 
which purpose the expectorated juice was undoubtedly 
quite effective. We have seen modern tobacco-chewers 
whose copious expectoration made it next to impossible 
for any one to approach within several feet without 
being soiled with the vile juice. In the days when war 
was carried on by hand-to-hand combat, we can very 
readily understand that a wild Indian filling the air all 
about him with poisonous, irritating, filthy tobacco juice, 
would be a very formidable object. 

The Inventors of Pipes and Cigars. — The first 
smokers employed what was practically identical with 
the modern cigar. Dry tobacco leaves were made into 
rolls, and wrapped with the leaves of Indian corn, one 
end being lighted, and the other placed in the mouth. 
Pipes were also employed, those used in North America 
being shaped almost exactly like the letter Y? except 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 293 

that the stem was longer and the forked end was sym- 
metrical. In use, the forked end was placed in the 
nostrils, and the other end in the dense smoke arising 
from tobacco leaves placed on glowing coals. In Mexico 
and South America, pipes almost exactly like those now 
in use, with numerous other forms, were employed in 
the same way in which pipes are now used. 

Thus it appears that tobacco-using, together with 
the implements of its use and all the different modes of 
taking it, originated wholly with the heathen barbarians 
who roamed like wild beasts over the plains and through 
the dense forests of this continent four centuries ago. 
Civilized men have made no improvements or discoveries 
of any account in connection with its use ; they have 
simply followed the example of those naked savages 
whom the discoverers of America saw chewing, snuffing, 
and smoking " like devils " almost four hundred years 
ago. It is evident, then, that tobacco-using is a barbar- 
ous custom in the fullest sense. As to how savages 
learned the use of the weed, history does not give us 
any hint ; but the fact that pipes and snuff-taking tubes 
are found in their most ancient burial mounds, which 
are often surmounted by huge trees that must have 
required many centuries for their growth, is evidence of 
its great antiquity ; and in this habit we may unques- 
tionably find one of the causes which have reduced the 
American savage to his present degraded and deterio- 
rated condition. 

Reader, if you smoke, chew, or snuff the filthy weed, 
we would ask you to pause a moment between your 
whiffs, or before you renew your quid, or take a new 
pinch of the delectable poison, and consider whether it 



294 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

is worthy of the dignity of an intelligent, enlightened, 
cultivated human being to spend his money, waste his 
time, and squander his health in imitating a vice which 
originated with ignorant, degraded savages, and remains 
a relic of barbarism which has been grafted upon civili- 
zation. 

Chemists, botanists, and physicians unite in pro- 
nouncing tobacco one of the most deadly poisons known. 
No other poison, with the exception of prussic acid, will 
cause death so quickly, only three or four minutes being 
required for a fatal dose to produce its full effect. It is 
botanically known as nieotiana tabacum, and belongs to a 
class of plants known as the volanacece, which includes 
the most poisonous of all species of plants, among which 
are henbane and belladonna. There are more than forty 
different varieties of the plant, all of which possess the 
same general properties, though varying in the degree of 
poisonous character. 

Nicotine. — The active principle of tobacco, that is, 
that to which its narcotic and poisonous properties are 
due, is nicotine, a heavy, oily substance, which may be 
separated from the dried leaf of the plant by distillation 
or infusion. The proportion of nicotine varies from two 
to eight per cent, Kentucky and Virginia tobacco usually 
containing six or seven per cent. A pound of tobacco 
contains, on an average, three hundred and eighty grains 
of this deadly poison, of which one-tenth of a grain will 
kill a dog in ten minutes. A case is on record in which 
a man was killed in thirty seconds by this poison. 

A Pound of Tobacco Will Kill Three Hundred 
Men. — The poison contained in a single pound of to- 
bacco is sufficient to kill three hundred men, if taken in 



A RELIO OF BARBARISM. 295 

such a way as to secure its full effect. A single cigar 
contains poison enough to extinguish two human lives, if 
taken at once. 

The essential oil has been used for homicidal pur- 
poses. Nearly thirty years ago, it was employed by the 
Count Bocarmd to murder his brother-in-law, for the 
purpose of securing his property. 

The Hottentots use the oil of tobacco to kill snakes, 
a single minute drop causing death as quickly as a light- 
ning stroke. It is much used by gardeners and keepers 
of greenhouses to destroy grubs and noxious insects. 

A number of instances are recorded in which death 
has been produced by applying a little of the oil from 
the stem or bowl of an old pipe, to a sore upon the head 
or face of a small child. 

• Poisoning through the Skin. — The poison of to- 
bacco is so potent and violent in its action that even the 
external application of the moist leaves to the skin is 
sufficient to produce most serious symptoms. If a cigar 
be unrolled, and the leaves composing it be applied over 
the stomach, great nausea will be produced in a very 
short time. This method has been used to induce vom- 
iting. Cowardly soldiers have been known to place 
tobacco leaves under their arms just before going to 
battle, for the purpose of producing sickness. 

Some years ago a man was detected in an attempt 
to smuggle a quantity of tobacco by placing the leaves 
next to his skin. The nearly fatal symptoms which 
followed, led to the discovery of the smuggler. 

Deadly Vapor. — If tobacco is poisonous when ap- 
plied to the skin, it is doubly so when inhaled. The 
smoke of tobacco contains, in addition to nicotine, sev- 



296 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

eral other poisons, the chief of which are pyridine, 
picoline, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbon di oxide, carbonous 
oxide, and prussic acid, all of which are fatal poisons 
when received into the system in any other than the 
most minute quantities. Thus it is not to nicotine alone 
that the evil effects of smoking are due, -but to all of 
these poisons combined. 

Birds, frogs, and other small animals die when ex- 
posed to the fumes of tobacco in a confined space. 
Cheese-mites, bees, and other insects may be quickly 
killed by directing upon them a stream of tobacco smoke 
from an ordinary pipe. 

Poisoning through the Lungs. — Inhalation is the 
most speedy way of getting any volatile poison into the 
system. The reason of this is obvious when the 
fact is made known that the lungs present a mucous 
surface fourteen hundred square feet in extent, every 
inch of which is in the highest degree capable of absorb- 
ing gaseous substances brought in contact with it. This 
membrane is of the most marvelously delicate character, 
being of such exceeding thinness that it forms scarcely 
any obstacle to the passage of gases which enter the 
lungs by respiration. Just underneath this delicate 
membrane passes all the blood in the body, or an amount 
equivalent to the whole quantity of the blood, once 
every three minutes. The vapory poison inhaled by the 
tobacco-smoker is not simply taken into the mouth and 
then expelled, but it penetrates to the remotest air-cells, 
and spreads itself out over the whole of the immense 
extent of membrane stated. Thus it is plain that the 
blood of the smoker is literally bathed in the narcotic 
fumes drawn from his pipe or cigar. 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 297 



So readily does the system receive the poison of 
tobacco in this way, that it has repeatedly been observed 
as a fact that persons who are engaged in the manufact- 
ure of cigars often suffer much from the characteristic 
effects of nicotine poisoning. 

When tobacco is applied to the mucous membrane, 
as in chewing and snuff-taking, its poisonous elements 
are absorbed in essentially the same manner as when it 
is applied to the skin, but much more rapidly. In 
chewing, considerable quantities are also absorbed through 
the stomach, being swallowed with the saliva. 

Poisonous Effects of Tobacco-Using. — Very few 
users of the weed need to have a description of the 
effects of a moderate degree of poisoning from tobacco. 
The giddiness, nausea, and deathly sickness which follow 
the first attempt to use the drug, are indubitable evidence 
of the poisonous character of tobacco, which evidence is 
confirmed by the difficulty, in many cases very great, 
experienced in becoming addicted to its use. In severe 
cases of poisoning, violent vomiting and purging, vertigo, 
deathly pallor, dilatation of the pupil, a staggering gait, 
disturbed action of the heart, interference with respira- 
tion, and in extreme cases insensibility and syncope, are 
commonly observed. Only a very small quantity is 
necessary to produce these symptoms in a person not 
accustomed to its use ; but in persons who have habitu- 
ated their systems to the poison, a much larger quantity 
is required. 

Persons not accustomed to the use of tobacco, often 
show symptoms of poisoning from taking a very small 
quantity of the drug, as by inhaling its fumes in a 
smoking-car or a bar-room. Infants are often sickened 



998 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

by inhaling the air of a sitting-room which is poisoned 
by a smoking father. There is good reason for believing 
that not a few infants' deaths have occurred from this 
cause, as it is well known that young children are ex- 
ceedingly susceptible to the influence of poisons of all 
kinds. 

Condition of a Boy Learning to Smoke. — Of course 
no one has ever examined the internal organs of a boy 
while he was undergoing the terrible ordeal of " learning 
to smoke ; " but lower animals have been examined while 
under its influence, and the conditions observed are thus 
described by an eminent scientist and physician : — 

"From analogy derived from the inferior animals, 
which analogy must be very perfect, the conditions of 
the vital organs are as follows : The brain is pale and 
empty of blood ; the stomach is reddened in round spots, 
so raised and pile-like that they resemble patches of 
dark Utrecht velvet ; the blood is preternaturally fluid ; 
the lungs are pale as the lungs of a calf, when we see 
them suspended in the shambles ; while the heart, over- 
burdened with blood, and having little power left for its 
forcing action, is scarcely contracting, but is feebly 
trembling, as if, like a conscious thing, it knew equally 
its own responsibility and its own weakness. It is not 
a beating, it is a fluttering heart ; its mechanism is per- 
fect, but each fibre of it, to its minutest part, is impreg- 
nated with a substance which holds it in bondage, and 
will not let it go." 

Why All Smokers do Not Die of Tobacco-Poison- 
ing. — It is often objected that while chemistry and 
scientific experiments seem to prove that tobacco is a 
powerful poison, the experience of thousands of persons 



A BE LIC OF BARBARISM. 299 

disproves the theory of its poisonous character, since if 
it were so intense a poison as described, cases of death 
from tobacco-poisoning would be much more frequent. 

To this objection we answer, 1. One reason why so 
few persons are reputed to die of nicotine, or tobacco- 
poisoning, is the wonderful faculty the system possesses 
of accommodating itself to circumstances. Through this 
means the worst poisons may by degrees be tolerated, 
until enormous doses can be taken without immediately 
fatal effects. Corrosive sublimate, strychnia, belladonna, 
and many other poisons, may be thus tolerated. 

2. In our opinion, the majority of tobacco-users do 
die of tobacco-poisoning. Death as surely results, ulti- 
mately, from chronic as from acute poisoning, though 
the full effects are delayed, it may be, for years. A 
man who dies five or ten years sooner than he should, 
in consequence of tobacco-using, is killed by the poison 
just as truly as though he died instantly from an over- 
dose. 

Chronic Tobacco- Poisoning . — The symptoms of 
chronic tobacco-poisoning cannot be better stated than in 
the following summary by Dr. B. W. Richardson, one of 
the highest medical and scientific authorities of Eng- 
land :- — 

" Smoking produces disturbances— 

" a. In the blood, causing undue fluidity and change 
in the red blood corpuscles. 

" b. In the stomach, giving rise to debility, nausea, 
and in extreme cases, sickness. 

" c. In the heart, producing debility of that organ, 
and irregular action. 

" d. In the organs of sense, causing in an extreme 



300 MAJV, THE MASTERPIECE. 

degree, dilatation of the pupils of the eye, confusion of 
vision, bright lines, luminous or cobweb specks, and long 
retention of images on the retina, with other and anal- 
ogous symptoms affecting the ear, viz., inability clearly to 
define sounds, and the annoyance of a sharp, ringing 
sound like a whistle or a bell. 

" e. In the brain, suspending the waste of that organ, 
and oppressing it if it be duly nourished. 

"/. In the nervous filaments and sympathetic or or- 
ganic nerves, leading to deficient power in them, and to 
secretion in those surfaces — glands — over which the 
nerves exert a controlling force. 

" g. In the mucous membrane of the mouth, causing 
enlargement and soreness of the tonsils, — smoker's sore 
throat, — redness, dryness, and occasional peeling off of 
the membrane, and either unnatural firmness and con- 
traction, or sponginess of the gums. 

" h. In the bronchial surface of the lungs, when that 
is already irritable, sustaining the irritation and increas- 
ing the cough." 

The above quotation is of peculiar force, coming as 
it does from a man who is not only well qualified to 
speak on the subject from his high scientific attainments 
and large experience, but is peculiarly well fitted to 
speak authoritatively, and certainly without prejudice 
against tobacco, himself being, from force of long habit, 
a smoker. 

Dr. Richardson has elsewhere asserted that the injury 
done to the blood-corpuscles by nicotine can be readily 
detected in the blood of an old smoker by examination 
with the microscope. He thus describes the changes 
which are found to take place in the blood of a smoker : — 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 301 

Effects in the Blood. — " The blood is made thinner 
than is natural, and, in extreme cases, paler. In such 
instances the deficient color of the blood is distributed 
to the body altogether, rendering the external surface 
yellowish white, and puffy. . . . But the most important 
change is exerted on those little bodies which float in 
myriads in the blood, and are known as the red globules. 
These globules have, naturally, a double concave surface, 
and at their edges a perfectly smooth outline. . . . The 
absorption of the fumes of tobacco leads to rapid changes 
in them. Microscopically examined, they are found to 
have lost their round shape, to have become oval and' 
irregular at their edges, and instead of having a mutual 
attraction for each other, — a good sign, within certain 
limits, of their physical health, — they lie loosely scat- 
tered. Indeed, they indicate to the learned observer, as 
clearly as though they spoke to him, that the man from 
whom they were taken was physically depressed, and 
deficient in both muscular and mental power." 

The fact is established beyond the possibility of suc- 
cessful controversy, that tobacco is a poison, deadly in 
large doses, pernicious and harmful in all doses. It 
taints the breath, ruins the digestion, obliterates taste 
and smell, spoils the blood, oppresses the brain, de- 
presses the heart, irritates the nerves, wastes the mus- 
cles, obstructs the liver, dims the vision, stains the 
skin, and deteriorates and contaminates every organ 
and tissue with which it comes in contact in the body. 
Its influence is to lessen vitality, to benumb the sensi- 
bilities, to shorten life, to kill. 

Tobacco Predisposes to Disease. — By its deterio- 
rating influence upon the system, tobacco lessens the 



302 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

vital resistance of the body to other causes of disease, 
and so produces a prodisposition to nearly all classes of 
maladies. As bearing upon this point, we may quote 
the following from eminent authorities : — 

" Look at the pale face, imperfect development, and 
deficient muscular power of the inhabitants of unhealthy, 
malarious districts. They live on, but with only half 
the proper attributes of life. So it is with the habitual 
smoker." — Mr. Solly, F. R. S. 

" I do not hesitate to say that if a community of 
both sexes, whose progenitors were finely formed and 
powerful, were to be trained to the early practice of 
smoking, and if marriage were confined to the smokers, 
an apparently new and a physically inferior race of men 
and women would be bred up." — Dr. B. W. Richard- 
son. 

A British officer in India stated that of eleven 
officers sent out on an expedition, only two escaped in 
good health, and they were non-smokers. 

In speaking against tobacco, Dr. Edward Smith, 
the eminent English authority and sanitarian, re- 
marked, " The whole tendency of its action is toward 
disease, and it is impossible to say how much of good 
it has prevented," 

Smoker's Sore Throat. — The redness and dryness 
of the mucous lining of the mouth and throat so com- 
mon with smokers, is the result of the direct irrita- 
tion of the hot fumes of the poisonous weed which 
are drawn in through the pipe or cigar. This cause 
of this chronic disease of the throat is so very common 
that " smoker's sore throat " has come to be recognized 
as a distinct malady. Some smokers pretend to smoke 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 303 

for the cure of throat difficulties ; but the excuse is a 
mere pretense in most cases. Tobacco never cures 
sore throat. It may temporarily relieve local irrita- 
tion, but can do no more, and always increases the 
disease. 

Tobacco and Consumption. — The relation of impure 
air to disease of the lungs is everywhere recognized. It 
has been very clearly demonstrated that breathing im- 
pure air is the great cause of consumption, on account 
of the effect of poisonous elements upon the blood and 
the lungs. Even the impurities gathered from the 
blood itself exist in the air which has been once 
breathed, in such quantities as to render it unsafe to 
breathe again. This being the case, it will be readily 
seen that filling the lungs with the nicotinized smoke 
and hot fumes of tobacco from a pipe or cigar for several 
hours a day, cannot but be a most certain cause of 
lung disease. Moreover, experience shows this to be 
the case. Dr. C. R. Drysdale, the chief physician to 
the Metropolitan Free Hospital of London, declared in 
an article in Public Health, that " smoking in youth is 
no uncommon cause of pulmonary consumption." 

Tobacco a Cause of Heart Disease. — The effect of 
tobacco upon the heart is indicated by the pulse, which 
is a most accurate index to the condition of the heart. 
The pulse of the tobacco-user says, in terms as plain as 
any words could, that his heart is partly paralyzed, 
that its force and vigor are diminished, that it is, in 
fact, poisoned. Old smokers, and not a few of those 
who have indulged but a few years, often suffer with 
palpitation of the heart, intermittent pulse, angina pec- 
toris, and other symptoms of derangement of this most 



304 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

important organ. There is, in fact, a diseased condi- 
tion of the heart which is so characteristic of chronic 
tobacco-poisoning that it has been very appropriately 
termed "narcotism of the heart." Medical statistics 
show that about one in every four smokers has this 
condition. There is good reason for believing that not 
only functional but organic disease of the heart may be 
occasioned by the use of tobacco. 

Tobacco and Dyspepsia. — Notwithstanding the fact 
that tobacco is very frequently recommended as a 
sovereign remedy for dyspepsia, we have become con- 
vinced by careful observation in hundreds of cases, that 
it is never a cure, and is in hundreds of instances a 
cause of dyspepsia. Tobacco is a narcotic. The effect 
of narcotics generally is to lessen the secretion of 
gastric juice, and to decrease the activity of the stom- 
ach. This tobacco does in a very marked degree. A 
man who is hungry may appease his desire for food by 
using tobacco if he is accustomed to it, or by the 
employment of some other narcotic. The desire is ap- 
peased, although the want still exists. It is through 
this same paralyzing influence that tobacco impairs di- 
gestion. Snuff-taking occasions dyspepsia by produc- 
ing irritation of the nasal mucous membrane, which 
affects the stomach through sympathy. 

Tobacco a Cause of Cancer. — There is no chance 
to doubt that tobacco-using is often a cause of this terri- 
ble disease. All eminent surgeons testify that they fre- 
quently meet cases of cancer of the lips and tongue 
which have been occasioned by smoking. A number of 
such cases have come under our own observation, and 
we do not doubt that a large share of cancers of the 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 305 

lip and tongue originate in this way. This view is 
further strengthened by the fact that in the great cancer 
hospital of London, where more than ten thousand cases 
of this terrible disease have been treated, the number of 
men suffering from cancer upon the lip and tongue was 
three times as great as the number of women so affected, 
although the female cancer patients outnumber the men, 
five to one. 

Tobacco Paralysis. — Within the last thirty years 
there has been a great increase in the frequency of the 
occurrence of a peculiar form of paralysis which seems 
to affect especially the nerves that supply the muscles, 
causing gradual wasting and loss of muscular power, 
which is fairly attributable to the increasing use of 
tobacco, as it most often occurs in tobacco-users. 

A form of progressive paralysis of the optic nerve, 
causing " tobacco amaurosis," or blindness, is well recog- 
nized by oculists. These cases generally recover when 
the tobacco is discontinued, but will not get well so long 
as it is used. 

Color Blindness, an affection which is increasing to 
an alarming extent, especially in Belgium and Germany, 
where smoking is more extensively practiced even than 
in this country, has been found largely attributable to 
the use of tobacco. This fact was first announced by 
an eminent Belgian physician, who made extensive in- 
vestigations of the subject at the request of the Belgian 
government. 

Nervousness from Tobacco. — Tobacco-users suffer 

much from nervousness, which is manifested in a great 

variety of ways. One person is easily startled ; another 

is unnaturally irritable, is cross and irascible ; another 

20 



306 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

cannot sleep at night ; still another suffers from trembling 
of the hands, which greatly discommodes him in writing. 
In scores of cases, we have seen these symptoms disap- 
pear when the use of tobacco was discontinued. Tem- 
porarily, tobacco seems to give tone and strength and 
steadiness to the nerves; but the seeming strength is 
deceptive. It is purely artificial, and the ultimate effect 
is to increase the very difficulty which it seems to cure. 

We have often known wives and young children to 
suffer severely from various nervous disorders which 
were wholly due to the effect upon their delicate organ- 
izations of the poisonous fumes of tobacco which they 
received through the poison-laden exhalations of their 
smoking husbands and fathers. 

Hereditary Effects of Tobacco-Using.— -There is 
no vice or habit to which men are addicted, whose results 
are more certainly transmitted to posterity than are those 
of tobacco-using. A vigorous man may use tobacco all 
his life, and be able to convince himself all the time that 
he is receiving no injury ; but the children of that man, 
who ought to inherit from him a vigorous constitution 
and high health, are instead robbed of their rightful 
patrimony, and enter upon life with a weakly vital 
organism, with a system predisposed to disease and 
destined to premature decay. The sons of an inveterate 
tobacco-user are not as robust as their father ; and the 
grandchildren, in case the children are tobacco-users, are 
certain to be nervous, weakly, sickly creatures. This 
fact we have verified in so large a number of cases that 
we make the statement fully prepared to maintain it by 
indisputable facts. 

Dr. Pidduck, an English physician of experience, 



A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 307 

speaks as follows from his observations on the effects of 
tobacco at the dispensary of St. Giles : — 

" If the evil ended with the individual who, by the 
indulgence of a pernicious custom, injures his own health, 
and impairs his own faculties of mind and body, he might 
be left to his enjoyment, his fool's paradise, unmolested. 
This, however, is not the case. In no instance is the sin 
of the father more strikingly visited upon the children 
than in that of tobacco-smoking. The enervation, the 
hypochondriasis, the hysteria, the insanity, the dwarfish 
deformities, the consumption, the suffering lives and 
early death of the children of inveterate smokers, bear 
ample testimony to the feebleness and unsoundness of 
the constitution transmitted by this pernicious habit." 

In addition to the maladies already noticed, we 
might enumerate a large number of other diseases which 
are either the direct or indirect result of tobacco-using ; 
but the facts we have adduced are ample to warrant the 
conclusion that the use of tobacco is one of the worst 
forms of intemperance, and one of the surest means of 
producing disease. Every proper means ought to be 
adopted to prevent the contraction of the habit by the 
young, and to induce those addicted to it to reform. 

" The DeviVs Own." — Passing a London cigar store 
one day, we noticed the above words on a flaming placard 
as the name of a new brand of cigars just produced by 
the manufacturers. The name impressed us as exceed- 
ingly appropriate, and we wondered that so impressive a 
cognomen had not before been utilized. The cigar is 
undoubtedly one of the devil's favorite instruments for 
converting boys who might become respectable citizens 
and useful men, into loafers, vagabonds, drunkards, and 
criminals of every description. 



308 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Notwithstanding the repeated exposures which have 
been made of the dangers to life and health incurred by 
the use of the filthy weed, the number of its devotees 
seems to be constantly upon the increase. The tobacco 
habit must be regarded and treated as a moral disease 
which has fastened itself upon society, — one of " the dev- 
il's own" means for degrading and depraving humanity. 
How perverted, indeed, are the instincts of the human 
being who deliberately defiles the image of his Maker 
till every trace of the divine workmanship is obliterated 
by the scourge of the stinking weed, and he becomes fit 
only to be labeled "the devil's own"! 

How to Reform. — Stop at once. There are very few 
persons who possess the strength of purpose and power 
of self-control to " taper off." The tapering off process 
is far more difficult, and is attended by far greater in- 
convenience, both physical and mental, than the prompt 
and complete abandonment of the practice. No fear need 
be entertained that any risk to life will be incurred, al- 
though much nervous irritability and even pain may be 
experienced. Perseverance for a few days will bring 
victory, and release from the tyranny of a vile and de- 
grading habit, 






Germs, 




T is supposable, at least, that every man will 
sometime be at the head of a house, and have 
the chief responsibility of surrounding his fam- 
ily with the most a favorable conditions for 
health, and guarding them against the en- 
croachments of preventable disease. Modern 
science has developed the fact that of all the 
enemies of life and health, the most potent 
are germs, and to the consideration of these 
subtle foes to human life this chapter is to be 
devoted. The following is an abstract of a lecture on the 
subject, delivered at a Sanitary Convention under the au- 
spices of the State Board of Health of Michigan : — 

Germs are invariably connected with organic death, 
or decomposition. 

The various forms of animal and vegetable life which 
make up the organic world, are constantly passing 
through the change which we call death. Every living 
thing, from the delicate fungus which springs up in a 
night, and fades at the first glance of the morning sun, 
to the stalwart oak which braves the frosts and gales of 
centuries, obeys the mandate, " Dust thou art, and unto 
dust shalt thou return." Every tempest shriek is a wail 
of woe for the death of a monarch of the forest or a king 
among beasts. Every leaflet's rustle or brooklet's ripple 

[309] 



310 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

is a requiem sung to the death of a million blooming 
flowers or humming insects. Every instant, countless 
myriads of creatures in earth, air, and water, fall victims 
to the great destroyer. The whole world is one vast 
charnel-house. The soil we tread upon is strewn with 
corpses. The air we breathe, the water we drink, are 
often teeming with the carcasses of organic beings that 
have finished their life work, and given place to a new 
generation, which will soon meet the same fate as its 
predecessors. 

The universal dominance of death is often used to 
point a moral lesson, and with telling force it appeals to 
the sentiments ; but to the sanitarian, it has much more 
than a sentimental significance. Science points out with 
unmistakable clearness that each death is accompanied 
by danger to the living as well as misfortune to the 
victim. 

Chemistry brings to light poisonous gases, the pres- 
ence of which is confirmed by the sense of smell ; but 
the microscope makes a still more important discovery ; 
viz., the presence of myriads of specks of life, to which 
the name of germs has been attached. Wherever decom- 
position is taking place, these organisms are present in 
countless numbers. It is perhaps a question whether 
they are a product of decomposition, or its cause ; but it 
is certain that they are never absent from any process 
of decav. Infinitesimal in size, — so small that millions 
may range with unrestricted freedom in the smallest drop 
of water, — they are yet more potent for harm to human 
life and health than all other agencies combined. Un- 
doubtedly, these are the active agencies that give rise 
to dysentery, cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever, the 



GERMS. 311 



plague, to the terrible typhoid fever which annually car- 
ries off thousands of victims, and to a long list of diseases 
whose exact number is not yet known. 

There is some difference of opinion respecting the 
exact nature of the germs which give rise to different 
diseases, and as to the exact mode of their development 
and transmission ; but it is certainly settled that decom- 
posing matter furnishes a fertile soil for the development 
of the germ-causes of the diseases mentioned and many 
others. 

Germs and Foul Odors. — Noxious gases and disease- 
germs are usually associated together, — a fortunate 
fact, as it enables us to detect the dangerous charac- 
ter of an infected atmosphere without the trouble of 
a chemical analysis. It is possible for the air to be 
swarming with disease-germs without an offensive odor 
being present ; but it seldom happens that we have an 
odor of putrescence without the presence of noxious 
germs. It is perfectly safe to say that a foul-smell- 
ing air is a dangerous air. If our eyes were micro- 
scopic, we should daily, hourly, behold sights that 
would appall the stoutest heart. 

Sources of Germs. — Perhaps we may with profit 
consider for a moment some of the most common sources 
of these deadly enemies to human life. We need not 
seek long for an illustration of the source from which 
these unseen foes sally forth to prey upon our dearest 
friends, or upon ourselves. Let us picture an average 
human habitation. We have a fine, commodious dwell- 
ing, ample room, plenty of comforts of every sort, 
every convenience that money can procure or ingenu- 
ity devise. It would seem that the occupants ought 



312 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

to be hale and hearty ; but they are not. Every now 
and then death makes a visit to the household, carrying 
off its brightest members, ruthlessly slaying father, 
mother, brother, sister ; the strong man, or the feeble 
infant. Why this sacrifice, this ruthless slaughter? 
Who are the invisible monsters invading this happy cir- 
cle ? In olden times it would have been said, " An evil 
spirit hath done this ; " but the days of witchcraft and 
superstition have gone by, and we must look for some 
more rational solution of the mystery. 

A Cellar Investigated. — Let us look around. We 
will begin our investigation at the lowest portion of the 
house, and proceed to examine the cellar. The sense 
of smell at once informs us that a quantity of decay- 
ing vegetables has accumulated there, having been un- 
disturbed, perhaps, for months, and are pouring forth 
into the air deadly emanations, the effects of which 
have already been described. Through the open cellar 
door, through the cracks in the floor, through the 
porous partitions, and through a thousand channels, 
this stagnant, poison-laden air finds its way to the 
living-apartments of the household, and into the lungs 
of the occupants. Every nook and corner of the dwell- 
ing is haunted by that pestilential, disease-producing 
odor. 

A Peep into a Kitchen. — We ascend to the kitchen. 
Here we find an accumulation of what everybody 
recognizes as kitchen smells. In one corner stands the 
antiquated wood-box, the mute receptacle of a hundred 
things besides its daily supply of fuel. If the wit- 
nesses were not mute, we might listen to a surprising tale 
of insanitary transgressions connected with that homely 



GERMS. 313 



piece of furniture in the corner. Let us turn out upon 
the floor the contents, and scrutinize them. Shade of Hy- 
geia, what a smell ! The nose makes protest with a 
sneeze. Suppress your emotions, and proceed to ex- 
amine. Rotten bark, decomposing apple cores, odds 
and ends of almost every imaginable eatable, the rem- 
nants of the cozy nest in which several generations 
of mice have been reared, a moldy, putrescent con- 
glomeration of everything perishable that enters a 
household, teeming with filth, redolent with putrefaction, 
and crawling with vermin, — such are the contents of 
the average kitchen wood-box. Not a few such have 
we seen, and a still larger number, out of sight, but con- 
veniently near, we have smelled. 

In another corner is the inevitable " sink," made of 
wood, and saturated with decomposing " dish-water." 
Hiding in its secret corners are ancient rags in an ad- 
vanced state of decay; and the drain-pipe connected 
with its bottom, affords an open channel for the in- 
gress of pestilential odors from the cess-pool just out- 
side the door. 

The plastered walls, saturated with the accumula- 
tions of a quarter of a century, pour forth an odorif- 
erous stream of gaseous filth, which is unobserved only 
because overpowered by the other sources of contamina- 
tion. 

A Pantry Full of Germs. — But we must not omit 
to take a peep into the pantry close at hand, before pro- 
ceeding elsewhere with our investigations. I wonder if 
the goddess of health ever looked into a modern pantry ! 
If she did, it is a marvel that she did not send her em- 
blematic serpent on a commission of punishment among 



314 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the cooks, for such flagrant infractions of her laws. Our 
olfactories are the only guide necessary to enable us to 
discover the whereabouts of the precious corner where 
are hoarded the provisions for daily consumption by the 
family. An odor of sourness, which betrays unmistaka- 
bly the presence of decomposing milk, leads us to the 
door-way of the pantry, and we enter to make a closer 
inspection. With the exception of a few pans of milk 
which has lost its useful properties, and acquired some 
which are not useful, all looks neat and orderly; a 
musty odor not perceptible, perhaps, to those who have 
become accustomed to it, but apparent and significant to 
the sensitive olfactories of a sanitarian, attracts our 
attention to sundry drawers and corners which might 
otherwise have escaped notice. We will not pain the 
sensibilities of our hearers with all the possible revela- 
tions from an investigation of the hidden recesses of the 
ordinary pantry. Fragments of moldy bread, stale food of 
various kinds, perhaps a churn, with its souring, ferment- 
ing contents, awaiting the weekly churning-day, are but a 
few of the items which would be included in a complete 
inventory. It is a magnificent place for germs of every 
description to hold high carnival. And they do. Every 
housewife knows that a pan of new milk placed in a 
close room or pantry with a pan of sour milk, sours 
much sooner*' than if set in a perfectly fresh and whole- 
some place. 

A Sitting-Room Inspected. — Let us take a look 
into the sitting-room, the chief living-room of the house. 
Here again we are pretty sure to find a wood-box, nicely 
painted or papered outside, but no less uninviting inside 
than its humble brother in the kitchen. We find no 



QERMS. 315 



kitchen sink with its unsavory odors, bujt that source 
of contamination is within easy smelling distance, and so 
is still able to do its work of mischief. So, too, the 
putrescent fumes from the cellar and pantry are plainly 
perceptible, and the walls are covered with a layer of 
decomposable matter condensed from the vapors rising 
from the cooking of vegetables, boiling of soiled garments, 
and other culinary and domestic operations. Many 
other such layers have been formed and buried by the 
new layer of paper and paste added every two or three 
years, or oftener, until, as we have seen in some in- 
stances, as many as eight or ten layers may be counted. 
Where could a more fertile field for germs or parasitic 
fungi be found ? 

A dark spot a foot or two in diameter marks the 
place where, as the housekeeper says, the paper has 
been stained as the result of a defective roof. A close 
inspection shows something more than a stain — a flourish- 
ing crop of mold. Put a speck of that same mold under 
the microscope, and we behold a forest. Every twig 
bears fine, large, round fruit, which consists of sacs filled 
with minute specks called spores. Some of the sacs are 
ripe and bursting, throwing the spores with which they 
are filled in every direction. This is what is taking 
place on the wall, and those same spores fill the air all 
around, getting into the dough and making the bread 
sour, creeping into the fruit cans, stealing into the pan- 
try, and spoiling the labor of the housewife in a hundred 
ways, besides creating a musty odor, which is constantly 
inhaled by the occupants of the house, and possibly con- 
veying to them the seeds of disease and death. 

A beautiful carpet upon the floor conceals beneath 



316 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



its delicate shades a conglomerate accumulation of con- 
tributions from every source of impurity within the 
dwelling and without. Let the children romp about the 
room a few minutes, and see what a cloud of witnesses 
arise to testify that the shades of death are lurking just 
beneath its graceful patterns. Every day in the year 
this " Pandora's box " is compelled, by a vigorous appli- 
cation of the housewife's broom, to send out its miscella- 
neous store. Each sweep of the broom raises a cloud 
of germs and spores, and decomposing and decomposable 
fragments garnered from the kitchen, the yard, the 
street, the gutter, — a thousand sources, until the air 
becomes almost as opaque as the densest fog. Every 
living occupant of the room prudently retires, even to 
the household cat, except the sweeper, who plies her 
broom with industrious activity, with head and nose 
enveloped in the folds of a handkerchief, which acts as a 
protector and a strainer. When the commotion is ended, 
the dusty filth settles upon the tops of book-cases, cup- 
boards, and other articles of furniture, among the folds 
of lace window curtains, upon the ceiling and walls of 
the room, and wherever it can find a lodgment. Pretty 
soon the housekeeper comes back, and with a duster 
stirs up anew the dust which has settled upon tables, 
chairs, window-sills, picture frames, and other articles 
within easy reach, driving it up to higher lodgment, 
from which it is destined to be constantly swept by cur- 
rents of air, movements of windows, swinging of hanging 
articles, and in various ways to be breathed, after all, 
by the daily occupants of the house, who thought to 
escape by avoiding the commotion created by the morn- 
ing's sweeping. Such air, like the mines of Nevada, has 



GERMS. 317 



" millions in it," all alive, and ready to develop, in a fer- 
tile soil, into disease and death. 

An Infected Parlor. — But we have not seen all yet. 
Here is the parlor, with its close, fusty smell, and its 
chilly dampness. An "odor of sanctity" pervades the 
place. It is sacred to use on great occasions, when its 
death-dealing walls are made to witness the still more 
deadly depredations of a fashionable festival. Upon its 
cold walls are condensed the steam from kitchen and 
wash-room, and the organic filth carried with it. " What 
makes the walls of my parlor sweat so ? " has been asked 
me many times by housekeepers who were annoyed by 
the dampness of their parlor walls and ceiling, often 
giving rise to mold and mildew. The explanation is 
already given. The sunshine never gets into this sacred 
corner of the dwelling, or at most only a glimmer now 
and then. Its walls are never disinfected by the sun's 
full, warm rays. Hence its air is constantly charged 
with death-dealing properties, which are ready to exhibit 
their potency whenever favorable opportunity affords. 

A Death- Trap. — And there is the parlor bedroom, a 
veritable death-trap, containing all the dangers enumer- 
ated for the contiguous apartments, and more. How 
many a useful clergyman has been sacrificed at the very 
hight of his usefulness by incarceration in one of these 
insanitary bedrooms. 

How many an itinerant missionary has arisen from 
his bed after a night spent in such a place, with rheuma- 
tism or consumption fastened upon him. I can easily 
recall many horrible nights spent in such a place, when 
boarding round as a district school-teacher, many years 
ago, and shudder at the recollection. 



318 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Unhealthful Sleeping -Rooms. — Let us ascend to 
the upper part of the house. Here, you may say, we 
shall find a better condition of things. No kitchen with 
its foul smells, no pantry with its decomposing food, less 
dust, and no wood-boxes ; but we must not congratulate 
ourselves too soon. Here is an open stairway in direct 
communication with the lower rooms ; and the heated 
air from below, which ascends to the apartments above, 
carries with it its gleanings from cellar, sink, pantry, 
dusty carpets, moldy walls, fermenting wood-boxes, and 
the various contributions to the insanitary condition of 
the house, so that the upper rooms become a receptacle 
for the overflow from below. Closets, garrets, and un- 
ventilated rooms in the upper part of a house become, in 
time, charged with most virulent enemies to health. 

What's under the House ? — We have not finished 
our in-door inspection ; but we must hasten, so let us 
make a survey of the exterior. But before we pass to 
the out-side, let us pause a moment to ascertain the 
cause of that peculiar sickening odor which seems to 
emanate from the hall. The occupants of the house say 
they noticed a bad smell there last fall, and now, as the 
warm days of spring are coming on, it has reappeared. 
What is it ? Each member of the family has sniffed it, 
and scolded at it, and echoed " What is it ? " a hundred 
times. It is not moldy walls nor full wood-boxes ; gas 
from the sink-pipe, nor decaying vegetables in the cellar ; 
sourness from the pantry, nor ancient dust from under 
the carpet. Possibly it may be something under the 
floor. No one has ever taken the trouble to look and 
see, as the space under the floor is not spacious enough 
for one to visit without considerable inconvenience ; 



GERMS. 319 



besides, there is no ready means of access to the inclos- 
ure except by making a hole through a stone wall, and 
so the matter has not been investigated. Suppose we 
step outside, and undertake the task. What do we find ? 
Perhaps a dozen rats who were fed arsenic in the cellar 
or pantry, and sought out this as a convenient place to 
die in, or may be maliciously thought to retaliate for 
their own poisoning by poisoning their destroyers. Per- 
haps the pet rabbit which mysteriously disappeared a few 
months ago, apprehending approaching death from sur- 
feiting, has sought this secluded spot to breathe his last, 
as evidenced by his decomposing remains. At any rate, 
there is great need of the services of a scavenger, and 
we wonder how it would be possible to invent a more 
ingenious contrivance for accomplishing the physical ruin 
of a family, if such a fiendish design were to be executed. 
Sanitary Survey of a Back Yard, — Now let us 
glance around a little. The front yard is orderly and 
inviting, of course. Graveled walks, a smoothly cut 
lawn, a few elegant shrubs and evergreens, all suggest 
the highest degree of neatness and good taste. Let us 
step around to the back yard. What a contrast ! Close 
by the door stands a garbage-barrel, which testifies to at 
least two of the senses that its history goes far back into 
the dim past. Once a week the milkman comes with a 
cart, and empties the unsavory receptacle, stirring to the 
bottom its reeking contents. (Let me whisper in paren- 
thesis that some of the same comes back in tin cans and 
earthen jars.) Swill-milk is not an unknown article, even 
in rural districts, where hay and grain bring a good 
price. At all hours of the day and night this half-rotten 
receptacle of decomposing organic matter sends out upon 
the air its filthy emanations. 



320 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Near by is a brown looking spot of earth, over which 
are eagerly crawling myriads of the first insects of the 
season, and from which ascends a noxious vapor, visible 
in the cool morning air, but not difficult to discover if 
not visible, by its pungent, nauseating odor. This, the 
gardener explains, is the dumping place for the dish-pan 
and the wash-tub since the drain pipe became clogged, a 
few months ago. Frozen up during the winter, it was 
annoying only by its unsightly appearance ; but now 
that the vernal sun has come, the accumulation of 
months sends forth a constant stream of noisome smells, 
which are too often experienced to need further descrip- 
tion. 

A rod or two from the house we notice a little de- 
pression in the ground. This, we learn, is the location 
of the cess-pool. The boards which once formed its 
roof have rotted away, and allowed the overlying 
earth to drop into the receptacle beneath, which orig- 
inally consisted of a bottomless box or barrel, half filled 
with stones, and connected with the kitchen sink by 
means of a long wooden box. The wood has how 
nearly disappeared, a few rotten fragments only remain- 
ing. Out of this putrescent hole rises a stench which 
finds no counterpart elsewhere than in a similar contriv- 
ance for domestic poisoning. Horrible, nauseating, 
loathsome, are faint words to describe the dense vapors 
which ascend from this repository of liquid filth. 

A few feet distant is an edifice which we are at a 
loss to know how to describe. A correspondent was in 
the same predicament when he sent us a clipping for 
publication which he said was "rescued from a place 
consigned to infamy." The edifice referred to probably 



GERMS. 321 



ought to have been consigned to infamy, if it had not 
been, and the same should be said of most others of the 
same class. Though carefully guarded from observation 
by a close lattice, covered by clambering vines, its 
presence is easily detected, and that without close prox- 
imity. How often, as we walk along the streets at 
night, does the air, which Heaven sends as pure, sweet, 
and potent with life-giving energies, come laden with 
poisonous exhalations from dozens of such sources, and 
freighted with the agencies of death. The vault of an 
out-house often becomes a much more dangerous enemy 
to human life than a powder-magazine or a nitro-glycer- 
ine factory; yet the latter are by law required to 
be located far apart from human habitations, while the 
former is tolerated in the closest proximity to human 
dwellings, often even under the same roof with human 
beings. 

Death in the Well. — In the midst of all these 
sources of the most dangerous filth, is located the well, 
from which is to be daily drawn one of the most essen- 
tial of the necessaries of life. Is it any wonder that the 
cup of life is often transformed into the cup of death ? 
Only think of the conditions of a family with Death en- 
throned in the well, and daily dealing out his poisonous 
draughts to its members ! The mysterious Providence 
which deprives a family of its loved ones through the 
agency of typhoid fever, may, in a majority of instances, 
be proved to be a mysterious connection between the 
well and a privy vault or cess-pool. 

A settler in a new country generally digs two holes 
in the ground after erecting his humble cottage. Into 
one goes all the filth, offal, and slops ; out of the other 
21 



322 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

comes all the water for family use. These holes are 
usually so near together that the contents mingle, so that 
what goes into one comes out of the other. In an old 
settled country, a man in making a home digs two or 
three holes for filth and one for water, so that the latter 
is often surrounded by the former. As most of the 
water from the wells is returned to the holes for the 
reception of filth, a very large share of it may find its 
way back to its original source, — a very economical 
arrangement, when the water-supply is short, so far as 
the water is concerned, but not to be recommended if 
health and long life are valued. 

If we inquire the location of the cistern, we shall 
very likely find it under the house, and conveniently 
near the drain-pipe, so that in case of leakage of the 
pipe, the foul water from the sink may find its way with 
the greatest facility into the cistern. 

At no great distance we may find a stable, with its 
filthy accumulations, which are drenched at every rain, 
and contaminate the soil for many feet around, and to 
an unknown depth. Here is another probable contribu- 
tor to the water-supply. We have seen scores of wells 
located in the barn-yard, so as to be convenient for wa- 
tering the stock, but used for culinary purposes as well, 
if not in any other way, in the form of milk, beef, pork, 
or mutton. 

Some one may imagine that this picture is highly 
colored; but the experienced sanitarian will certainly 
say we have not told half the truth. If our eyes were 
possessed of microscopic power, we should see about us 
in many of the houses we visit — perhaps in the very 
ones in which we reside — a spectacle more surprising 



GERMS. 323 



than that which met the gaze of the man of old whose 
eyes were opened for a moment 5 enabling him to see a 
mountain covered with armed hosts who were invisible 
to his natural eyes. But the hosts we should see would 
not be an army of brave soldiers coming to our rescue 
from disease ; but the emissaries of death in countless 
numbers, intent upon our destruction, ready to pounce 
down upon us at the first favorable opportunity, rack 
us with pain, and finally devour us. 

But what do you know about these germs you talk 
so much about ? says one. Is not this all an hypothesis ? 
We answer, The connection of germs with the phenom- 
ena of decay and disease, is something more than an hy- 
pothesis. A germ is not an hypothetical thing, like the 
ether of physical science. Germs have been seen and 
studied by the aid of powerful microscopes, with the 
greatest care. Their species, modes of development, 
favorite habitats, and the conditions essential to their ex- 
istence, have been worked out with almost as much 
completeness as the same points with reference to the 
most common of our higher plants and animals. 

Uses of Germs. — Germs play an important rdle in 
the cycle of existence. Without their agency, the world 
would soon be covered with the dead but not disorgan- 
ized carcasses of the millions of animal and vegetable 
forms which die each instant. It is the function of some 
of these infinitesimal creatures to reduce back to an 
inorganic state, animal and vegetable forms which have 
performed their part in the world, and are no longer of 
service. The moment an animal or a vegetable dies, 
even before the last agonies are over, these invisible 
scavengers begin their work, and their labor is carried 



324: MAN, THE MASTERPIECE 

forward untiringly until completed. This is what we 
call decay, or decomposition. Seal up a decomposable 
body hermetically, taking care to exclude every germ, 
and it will keep as long as the receptacle lasts, without 
the slightest taint. This is what the housewife en- 
deavors to do in the process of fruit-canning. She boils 
the fruit to destroy the germs it contains, and puts it in 
the cans while it is yet hot. If the work is well done, 
it is a success ; but if one little germ escapes destruc- 
tion, the labor is in vain. 

These same germs are helpful, in the making of 
bread. In destroying a portion of the starch of the 
flour, they occasion the evolution of carbonic acid gas, 
which, in rising through the dough, makes it light. 
They are in *one sense friendly, since they are the in- 
struments for the removal of a vast amount of dead and 
useless material which would otherwise soon bury us 
by its rapid accumulation. Wherever decomposition is 
taking place, these germs are present in prodigious num- 
bers. One evidence of this is the presence of large 
numbers of flies in the same localities. The common 
house-fly subsists largely upon these same germs, as 
well as the same kind of food as its microscopic con- 
geners. Have you ever watched a fly, or hundreds of 
them, on a summer day, circling round and round, ap- 
parently without any particular end in view ? I used to 
wonder why the little creature should spend its time so 
aimlessly. The reason is readily found. Catch and 
kill one, if your conscience will permit you, and put it 
under the microscope. Observe its wings. These filmy 
objects, when magnified, present a formidable array of 
spikes and needle points. Here and there among them 



GERMS. 325 



are some of the very germs which we find in the air, in 
water, in decomposing matter. Now let us dissect the 
fly, and examine the contents of its stomach. Here also 
we find great numbers of those same germs. 

Now let us watch the little creatures again. Here is 
one which has been soaring about, and now alights, ap- 
parently to rest, upon the window-pane. Watch him a 
moment. Now he is standing on the forward four of his 
six legs, and brushing his wings with the hinder two. 
He brushes a few seconds, then rubs his feet together, 
then brushes again, and again rubs his feet, then passes 
something from one hind foot to the middle one, then to 
the front foot of the same side, then rubs the two front 
feet for an instant, and brings both feet to his mouth ; 
then he repeats the process. Now he is brushing his 
head in the same way. Do you suppose he is making 
his toilet ? Quite a mistake. The fly is not so fastidi- 
ous as to spend so much time over his appearance. He 
is making a meal of germs. He soars around until his 
wings are loaded, then rests upon some object while he 
scrapes them together, rolls them into little balls, and 
makes a meal of them. Every time you see a fly going 
through such antics, think of germs, and hunt around 
for the hot-bed in which they are propagating. 

Perhaps there was something more than sentiment 
in the old nursery rhyme, " Don't kill the fly," etc. But 
let us not be too hasty in our conclusions. Pretty soon 
one of those germ-eating flies will come along and put a 
punctuation mark on the morsel of bread you are about 
to eat. If you examine that same punctuation mark, 
you will find it full of germs ; and so you are going to 
eat them after all. The only real service done us by 



326 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

flies is that of a sort of sanitary thermometer, by which 
we may judge of the abundance of germs about our prem- 
ises. 

Germs differ in their relations to human life. Some 
are innocent, some dangerous under certain conditions, 
others dangerous under all circumstances ; and there are 
some grounds for believing that those which appear 
the most innocent, and are such under ordinary circum- 
stances, may, under favorable circumstances, become most 
formidable enemies to human life and health. For ex- 
ample, Drs. Wood and Formad, of Philadelphia, two ex- 
perts employed by the National Board of Health to in- 
vestigate the nature and causes of that deadly disease, 
diphtheria, after many months of close investigation, 
have submitted their report on the subject, which has 
recently been published in full by the Board. From 
this report it appears that one species of the germ, known 
as bacteria, which abounds in the air, where decomposi- 
tion is abundant, and which is on this account almost al- 
ways to be found in the saliva of the mouth, may, under 
favorable circumstances, give rise to diphtheria, thus ac- 
counting for the frequent spontaneous appearances of the 
malady. 

Some years ago, Dr. Brewer, of New Haven, Conn., 
made some experiments on the decomposition of wood, 
a number of which the author has verified. He found 
that sawdust, when wet, very quickly undergoes putre- 
factive decomposition, the process continuing for years, 
if the wood is kept moist. While undergoing this pro- 
cess of decay, it swarms with the very same variety of 
germs, or bacteria, found in the throat in diphtheria, 
which are undoubtedly given off into the air in great 



GERMS. 327 



numbers. The same is true of any accumulation of wood 
exposed to dampness, as uncovered wood-piles, heaps of 
chips, wooden sidewalks, pavements, etc. 

Disposal of Decomposing Matter. — But we must 
now come to the practical question, What shall we do 
with this decomposing matter ? Its constant occurrence 
is unavoidable. How can we so dispose of it as to avoid 
the dangers which have been no more than hinted at in 
this paper ? This question is not a modern one. It was 
asked and answered, and correctly too, more than three 
thousand years ago. Moses understood the disinfecting 
qualities of earth. The city of Jerusalem was provided 
with sewers. Rome, when in its glory, was well pro- 
vided for in this direction. A few years since, the au- 
thor saw in Rome a huge sewer constructed by the 
Csesars, and still in use. The same may be said of Car- 
thage, Nineveh, Alexandria, and Herculaneum. During 
this period, no great plagues prevailed, except in conse- 
quence of famine or war. During the Dark Ages, this 
branch of sanitation was neglected, and great plagues oc- 
curred, which again and again nearly depopulated whole 
countries. In modern times, a revival of sanitary meas- 
ures has put a check upon the terrible ravages of cholera 
and the black death, and we scarcely need fear a repeti- 
tion of the scourges of the middle centuries of our era. 

How to dispose of dead matter is a serious and im- 
portant question. By what means may it be accom- 
plished ? 

First, and most important, we mention disinfection. 
A disinfectant is a substance which, when brought in 
contact with decomposing and decomposable matter, de- 
stroys its dangerous properties, and thereby renders it 



328 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



innocuous. This is accomplished by the destruction of 
the germs associated with it, if in a state of decomposi- 
tion, and by a chemical action upon the decaying sub- 
stance. All excreta should be disinfected with as little 
loss of time as possible. 

What are the best disinfectants ? — Dry earth, coal 
ashes, charcoal, and saturated solutions of the mineral 
salts, as the sulphates of iron, copper, and zinc, — com- 
monly known as copperas, blue vitriol, and white vitriol, — 
chloride of zinc, and permanganate of potash or of soda. 
Each of these has its excellencies, but copperas, the 
cheapest of all, is also one of the best, and will be most 
often employed on account of its inexpensiveness. Per- 
manganate of potash is particularly serviceable for house- 
hold use, especially in the sick-room. Its solution has a 
deep purple color, which disappears as its disinfecting 
properties are utilized, thus enabling us to assure our- 
selves as to the completeness of the work, as I will illus- 
trate by a simple experiment. 

How to Disinfect. — The jar which I hold in my hand 
contains a solution of permanganate of potash, and is, as 
you observe, of a deep purple color. In my left hand I 
hold a solution of organic matter in a state of decompo- 
sition. Now I add to the contents of this jar a small 
portion of the purple solution. You observe a slight 
purple tinge, which quickly disappears as the solution is 
stirred. As I continue to add portions of the disinfect- 
ing solution, the purple color disappears less and less 
readily, until it remains permanently. Now we know 
that the solution of decaying matter is fully disinfected, 
and is no longer capable of doing harm. A quantity of 
this purple solution ought to be kept on hand in every 



GERMS. 329 



household, ready for use in disinfecting the discharges 
of diphtheritic and fever patients. 

This same agent, by the way, affords. a very excellent 
means for determining, with a tolerable degree of cer- 
tainty, the character of drinking-water with reference 
to the presence or absence of organic matter. A test 
solution is very easily made and used. Obtain of any 
druggist twelve grains of caustic potash and three of 
permanganate of potash. Dissolve both together in an 
ounce of distilled or filtered soft water. Add one drop 
of the solution to a glass of the suspected water. If the 
color disappears at once, add another, and continue add- 
ing until the color remains for half an hour or more. 
The amount of the solution necessary to secure a perma- 
nent color is a very fair index to the quality of the 
water. If the color imparted by one or two drops dis- 
appears in fifteen minutes, the water should be rejected, 
as probably dangerous. I have been looking around 
your city for specimens of bad water, the presence of 
which I find ample grounds for suspecting on account of 
the porous nature of your soil, and I was rewarded by 
finding a specimen which I will exhibit to you. You 
will notice that as I add the test solution, the color dis- 
appears rapidly, and a large quantity is required to 
produce a permanent color. This is very bad water, yet 
it has been freely used, and we wonder that it has not 
been the cause of much sickness. It is very possible 
that many cases of mysterious illness might be fairly 
attributed to this source. I will not name the source 
from which this water was obtained, as I have taken 
pains to see that no further risk shall be incurred, but 
would advise each of you to obtain a supply of the test- 
solution, and examine his own well. 



330 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Sulphuric and sulphurous acids, together with nitric 
and muriatic acids, are also good disinfectants. Chlo- 
ride of lime, if properly used, is very cheap and service- 
able ; but as commonly employed, it is of no service 
except to quiet the conscience of the user by producing 
what might be termed a " sanitary smell." Carbolic 
acid is also of no value when used in the ordinary way. 
To be useful, it must be employed in such quantities as 
to make it very expensive. Bromo-chloralum owes its 
disinfecting properties to the chlorine and bromine which 
it contains, and is useful if employed in sufficiently large 
quantities, which its high price is likely to prevent. 

How shall we use these disinfectants ? We will give 
a few hints on this subject as concisely as possible. 

Dry earth and coal ashes are best used in the earth- 
closet, which may consist of an ordinary closet with a 
box of earth and a shovel convenient for use, or of a closet 
to which is attached any one of the numerous mechanical 
devices for applying the earth or ashes. 

The following points must receive special attention : 
The earth must be dry and fine, and must be used in 
abundant quantities, sufficient to absorb all the moisture, 
as it is by this means chiefly that dry earth is useful for 
this purpose. Coarse sand is of little value. Clay, dried 
and pulverized, is the best of all materials for this pur- 
pose. Charcoal, finely pulverized, is useful when applied 
in abundant quantities, both as an absorbent and by 
means of its oxidizing properties. It may be used in 
the same way as dry earth, and the quantity should be 
sufficient to absorb all moisture. Copperas and the other 
salts mentioned must also be used freely, if any benefit 
is expected from them. A solution of copperas, con- 



GERMS. 331 



taming at least two pounds to the gallon, should be kept 
on hand for use. At least a pound of copperas, in solu- 
tion, should be used each day for a family of ordinary 
size, or about an equal quantity of blue or white vitriol. 
When purchased by the quantity, copperas costs but a 
few cents a pound, and hence may be used freely at 
small expense. 

We need not particularize further respecting the use 
of other disinfectants, except to remark that in cases of 
illness from typhoid fever, diphtheria, or any other 
infectious disease, the discharges of the patient should 
be received directly into a saturated solution of copperas 
or sulphate of zinc, or a strong solution of permanganate 
of potash or soda. White vitriol has the advantage for 
sick-rooms that it does not stain or discolor garments 
with which its solution may come in contact. 

But what shall we do with decomposing matters after 
disinfection ? — They should be removed as speedily as 
possible to a considerable distance from any human 
habitation, particular pains being taken to avoid the 
vicinity of wells or springs. 

We recommend above all other plans for use in rural 
districts and small towns, the dry-earth system in one 
form or another. A vault cannot be made safe from 
danger of contaminating the water-supply unless made 
water-tight, and then would still be a source of air- 
contamination, unless a large amount of some good dis- 
infectant were daily employed. If tight at first, it 
would soon leak, and the disinfection will seldom be 
attended to. 

The dry-earth system is safe, practical, and econom- 
ical. 



332 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The great requisite is co-operation. A man may 
keep his own premises in a scrupulously sanitary condi- 
tion, and yet be as much endangered through the care- 
lessness of his neighbor as though he were himself 
equally careless of the laws of sanitation. " Thou art 
thy brother's keeper," applies with all its significance in 
a sanitary sense. 

The dry-earth system has been very largely used in 
a number of European cities, and somewhat in this 
country, and its practical success is thoroughly demon- 
strated. 

In the year 1875 I introduced this plan into a small 
city in this State. About one hundred receptacles were 
put into use. Dry earth and ashes were employed to 
delay decomposition, and a scavenger was hired to 
empty the receptacles once a week during the months 
of April, May, June, July, September, and October. 
They were regularly emptied twice a week during July 
and August, and during the most extreme heat of those 
months, every other day. The results of this small 
effort were very satisfactory to those who engaged in it. 
The receptacles employed at that time were shallow pans 
about two feet square, and four inches deep, made of 
heavy sheet-iron, and costing about sixty cents each. 
It was found that the constant contact of a greater or 
less quantity of fluid excreta occasioned so rapid corro- 
sion of the iron that the pans were rendered useless 
by one season's use on account of leakage, so that 
the system was not continued by all who first engaged 
in it, though many provided themselves with galvanized 
pans, which were more durable, and a few made large 
tubs by dividing kerosene oil barrels, with a long, stout 



GERMS. 333 



handle attached, by means of which they were drawn 
out to be emptied and replaced. Four years later, an 
effort was made in the same community to introduce the 
"pail system," most of the pans being worn out or 
abandoned for want of appreciation of their value. 
Though the effort was made quite late in the season, ow- 
ing to inability to give the matter attention earlier, a 
large number of pails were introduced. The size of the 
pails used was twelve by fifteen inches at the top, nine 
inches at the bottom, and ten inches in depth. They 
were made of heavy galvanized iron, were very strong, 
and cost fifty cents each with the collar, which was at- 
tached to the seat to prevent the scattering of excreta 
upon the ground. The width of the collar was varied 
somewhat according to the distance from the seat to the 
pail, this provision being made to accommodate the plan 
as nearly as possible to the form of construction found 
in most buildings. The pail rested upon a plain board, 
upon which were fastened guides to direct it to the 
proper position. 

The pails were managed upon the same plan as 
the pans, and proved in every way much more satisfac- 
tory, being more durable, and much more convenient for 
handling by the scavenger. The expense of this system 
is very small. The original cost is a mere trifle, and 
when a hundred pails or more were in use, the expense 
for a scavenger was five cents a week for each. 

This system has been kept up to a very considerable 
extent where it was introduced. The great obstacle in 
the way is the apathy of the people to the necessity of 
giving attention to this matter. 

Another advantage of this system, which we have 



334 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

not mentioned, is the fact that the removal of the ex- 
creta is not at all offensive to the public. The work of 
the scavenger, usually done at night, is in our opinion 
often a cause of spreading disease. An odor so strong 
as to awaken one from sleep in the early morning hours 
is certainly capable of further mischief. 

But there are other forms of decomposing matter. 
What shall be done with the garbage ? Combustion is a 
good means of disposing of such filth, and relieves the 
scavenger of an additional burden, and the milkman of a 
temptation to economize. Fire is the most certain of all 
disinfectants. This plan is not nearly so troublesome as 
some may think. If not burned, the garbage may be 
treated in the same manner as excreta. Wash-water 
and dish-water should be carried out, and distributed 
over the soil several rods from the house. Do away 
with the cess-pool and the vault, and you will abolish 
two-thirds of the mortality from typhoid fever, diph- 
theria, epidemic diarrhea and dysentery, and perhaps a 
number of other diseases. Abolish cellars under houses, 
and place the house high enough to allow free ventila- 
tion and thorough and frequent inspection of the area 
beneath. 

Exchange carpets for hard-wood floors, well oiled 
and covered, so far as necessary or desirable, with loose 
rugs, which can be removed and shaken every day. 
Never allow dust to accumulate anywhere in a house. 
Banish wood-boxes from the living-room. Never paper 
a wall over another paper. Let in the disinfecting 
sun-beams, and plenty of fresh air to every room 
daily. Never mind if the carpets do fade ; better the 
carpets than the faces of our wives and little ones. In 



GERMS. 



335 



short, keep clean. Keep your premises clean, your 
dwellings clean, your bodies clean, and your hearts 
clean, and decomposing organic matter will never do you 
any harm. 




What to Tear for Health. 




HE USES OF CLOTHING.— The several 
uses of clothing may be said to be, 1. Protec- 
tion from extremes of temperature, heat 
or cold; 2. Protection from dampness; 3. 
Protection of the body from injury through 
contact with objects ; 4. A covering for the 
body. 

In order that these objects shall be met, 
the clothing must be made of proper material, 
and must be properly worn. As regards the 
material for clothing, it is essential, a. That it shall be 
a poor conductor of heat, in order that the heat of the 
body may net be wasted too rapidly in cold weather, 
and also that we may be protected from the heat of the 
sun and highly heated air in summer ; b. That it shall 
not transmit moisture too rapidly, as by this means the 
surface may be too rapidly cooled by evaporation of the 
perspiration ; c. That it shall be light, that it may not 
burden the body with unnecessary weight ; d. That it 
shall be porous, or permeable to air, so that the insensi- 
ble perspiration may escape from the body, and that the 
process of skin respiration may be properly performed. 

* The greater portion of this chapter is quoted from a recent work 
by the author, a text-book of physiology and hygiene for schools. 
[336] 



WHAT TO WEAR FOB HEALTH. 337 

Experiment. — A good conductor is a substance which heats 
readily when in contact with a heated object, or exposed to the 
fire or the sun's rays. All the metals are good conductors of heat ; 
while wood, hair, and most vegetable and animal substances 
are comparatively poor conductors. It is for this reason that 
pieces of wood are often attached to stove handles and flat-irons. 
Take a short piece of iron rod, and a piece of wood whittled to 
the same size. Place one end of each against a hot stove cover. 
In a few minutes the iron will become uncomfortably hot, while 
the wood may still be held in the fingers, although the heated 
end may be so hot as to burn. Substances which are poor con- 
ductors are termed non-conductors. 

What to Wear for Health. — The materials usually 
worn for clothing are linen, cotton, silk, and woolen, to 
which must be added leather for shoes, and rubber for 
shoes and over-garments. 

Linen has the advantage of being smooth, soft, and 
light, but is an inferior material for clothing to be worn 
next the body, 1. Because it is a good conductor of 
heat, and 2. Because it readily transmits moisture, and 
thus promotes evaporation on the surface, and so chills 
the body. A linen garment feels wet when the least 
moist or damp. 

Cotton is less pliable and soft than linen, but is not 
so good a conductor of heat, and transmits moisture less 
readily. It is a better material for clothing to be worn 
next the skin in warm weather, but is not wholly 
unobjectionable. 

Silk stands next in order of superiority as a material 
for clothing, being a poorer conductor of heat than cotton, 
and not so good an absorbent of moisture. 

Wool is the best of all materials as a non-conductor, 
and has the additional merit of absorbing and transmit- 
22 



338 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

ting moisture slowly, so that a person who perspires 
freely is less likely to chill than when wearing a fabric 
of any other material. Wool is also capable of absorbing 
a considerable amount of moisture without seeming to 
be wet. The fact that it absorbs water, or " wets " 
slowly and dries slowly, makes it a most excellent 
clothing material. However, it is sometimes found to 
be too irritating to the skin to be worn with comfort. 
In such cases, a thin cotton or silk garment may be 
worn under the woolen. This will combine the advan- 
tages of the two materials. 

Experiment — Cut two blocks of ice to the same form and 
weight. Cover one with flannel, the other with cotton cloth. 
Expose both to the sun, and after an hour or two, weigh each 
piece of ice and see which has lost the most. It will be found 
that the woolen cloth is much the best protector for the ice, and 
for the same reason it affords the best protection for the body. 

Another Experiment. — Immerse in water a piece of flannel 
and a piece of cotton cloth, of equal size. Observe the much 
greater length of time required for the flannel to become wet. 
Every one is familiar with the fact that flannel, after being 
wet, dries very slowly. 

Rubber and leather should be worn only as a covering 
for the feet, or for temporary use when exposed to rain. 
Rubbers and mackintosh cloaks or coats should be laid 
aside immediately on coming in out of the rain. 

Experiment — Cover the arm next the skin with a piece of 
rubber cloth, oiled silk, or oiled muslin. After tweaty or thirty 
minutes, remove the covering. Notice that the skin is moist. 
The moisture is due to the accumulation of the insensible per- 
spiration which ought to have escaped into the air. This shows 
the importance of wearing porous clothing. Undoubtedly, 



WHAT TO WEAR FOR HEALTH. 339 

many people take cold from the evaporation of moisture which 
accumulates in the clothing while wearing a rubber cloak or 
mackintosh, after the rubber garment is removed. 

Relation of Color to Health. — The color of garments 
is usually supposed to be chiefly a matter of taste. This 
is not the case, however. Experiments show that certain 
colors absorb and radiate light and heat better than 
others. Black, brown, and dark colors generally, absorb 
more heat and reflect less than light colors. White 
fabrics reflect a large share of the rays of light which 
fall upon them, allowing some light to pass through, 
when not too thick, and are very poor radiators. Colors 
approaching white possess the same properties in a pro- 
portionate degree. 

Experiments. — Make a box six inches square, leaving one 
side open. (A pasteboard box will do very well.) Bore an 
inch hole in the middle of the side opposite the open side. 
Cover the open side with white flannel. On holding the box 
up with the flannel toward the sun, and placing the eye at the 
opening, observe that a considerable amount of light passes into 
the box. Now remove the white flannel, and put black cloth 
of the same thickness in its place. On holding it up to the 
sun, and looking into the opening as before, it will be observed 
that scarcely a ray of light enters the box. By repeating the 
experiment with cloths of different colors, a good idea may be 
formed of the difference between fabrics of various colors as 
regards their ability to transmit light. 

Take three large copper or silver coins. Cover one side of 
each with black, red, and white cloth, respectively, attaching 
the cloth by means of a little mucilage. By means of little 
strips of paper, suspend the coins from the lower edge of a 
strip of board, taking care to have the covered faces all looking 
the same way. Now upon the uncovered side of each, place a 



340 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

small bit of mutton tallow, and hold the strip up to the sun in 
such a manner that the covered sides of the coins will receive 
the sun's rays directly, while the opposite side is shaded. Ob- 
serve that the tallow on the back of the coin covered with black 
cloth melts first, that on the red-covered coin second, and that 
on the white-covered coin last. This shows that the coin cov- 
ered with the black cloth receives the most heat, and the one 
covered with the white cloth the least. Similar experiments 
may be made with cloths of other colors. 

The same fact may be shown by placing the coins on a 
smooth block of ice, with the covered faces up, and exposing to 
the sun. The one that melts into the ice the deepest in a given 
time, evidently receives the most heat. 

It thus appears that from the standpoint of health, 
white is superior to all other colors at all seasons. In 
winter it is important to retain as much of the heat of 
the body as possible, so a poor radiator is required, 
which a white fabric supplies. In summer it is desired 
to protect the body from external heat. A good re- 
flector of heat is desirable, which a white fabric also sup- 
plies. White garments allow a considerable amount of 
light to penetrate to the surface of the body. 

Dressing for Warmth. — On the whole, a woolen 
fabric is the best material for undergarments. It should be 
of fine texture, and preferably of white color. If irritat- 
ing to the skin, a thin cotton or silk garment may be 
worn next the body. The underclothing should reach 
to wrists and ankles, and should be supplemented by 
warm woolen stockings. The feet should be protected 
by thick, warm shoes, with tops high enough to afford 
extra protection to the ankles, which are easily chilled, 
having less tissue than other parts of the legs. 

Many heavy skirts afford much less protection than 



WHAT TO WEAR FOR HEALTH. 341 

half the same thickness, and many times less weight 
worn in a garment fitted to the body. 

Clothing Should he Adapted to the Season and 
Weather. — More clothing is of course necessary in win- 
ter than in summer, but the difference in the amount of 
clothing required, is less than the difference in tempera- 
ture. We are all conscious of the fact that we suffer 
more from a temperature of forty in the summer than 
from a much lower temperature in winter. This is due 
to the fact that the system undergoes a change with the 
season, by which it adapts itself to the new conditions. 
This change produces what is termed a " winter consti- 
tution " for winter and a " summer constitution " for 
summer. The winter constitution is well adapted to 
resist cold ; while the summer constitution is prepared 
to resist heat ; consequently, the reverse of the conditions 
for which the body is prepared, are severely felt. 

On this account, we need more clothing in summer 
than in winter, at the same temperature. 

The fashion of putting off and resuming winter or 
summer clothing at certain dates, as is customary with 
many persons, is a mischievous one. The advice of 
Boerhaave is applicable to most parts of this country as 
well as his own. This eminent physician advised that 
the winter clothing should be put off on a midsummer 
day, and put on again the next day. 

Flannel under-clothing may be worn the year round 
with advantage by most persons. In winter, several 
suits of under-garments may be worn, and afford more 
warmth than the same weight or thickness in a single 
garment, as the warmth of a garment is clue, not so much 
to its thickness, as to the amount of air which is entan- 



342 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

gled in the meshes of the fabric, or between its layers. 
An extra suit of flannel affords almost as much warmth 
as an extra coat or cloak, and is both cheaper and less 
cumbersome. 

A change from warm to cold weather, or the reverse, 
at any season of the year, should always be met by a 
corresponding change in clothing. The outer-garments 
may remain the same, but the under-garments should be 
constantly modified as the existing weather may indi- 
cate. Observance of this rule will amply repay the 
slight trouble involved, in the saving of sickness and con- 
sequent expense and loss of time. 

Secure Equable Warmth. — The different parts of 
the body should be so clothed that all will be kept 
equally warm. It is evident that the feet and limbs, 
being farther away from the heart and great centers of 
life and heat, must require abundant covering ; yet many 
persons permit them to be so thinly clad in cold weather 
that they are never properly warm. Their development 
is checked, and a large part of the blood which they 
ought to contain is crowded into the head and other 
organs, which already have a full supply, thus doing 
double mischief. The absurd manner of clothing little 
children, exposing the limbs to the cold air, with little 
or almost no protection, is the cause of much sickness 
and death among children. 

Infants and Aged Persons Need Extra Warmth.— 
At each end of life the system is less able to provide a 
proper amount of heat, and extra warmth is needed. 
Most of the deaths among old people occur in cold 
weather. Such persons should expose themselves to 
severe cold as little as possible, and should protect them- 



WHAT TO WEAR FOR HEALTH. 343 

selves by a liberal supply of clothing. It is stated on 
good authority that in St. Petersburg, where the winter 
is longer and colder than in most parts of this country, 
one-third of all the children die before-they are one year 
old, and that one-sixth of the deaths are due to cold. 

The Clothing Should Allow Unrestrained Move- 
ment. — When worn in such a manner as to interfere 
with free and unrestrained movement of any part of the 
body, clothing becomes an embarrassment, and often a 
cause of disease. Among evils of this kind, and most 
serious of them all, is the wearing of the clothing in 
such a manner as to compress any portion of the trunk 
of the body. Proper clothing requires wholly unre- 
strained movement of the walls of the chest and abdo- 
men. If the chest or the waist is compressed by tight 
clothing, the breathing is seriously interfered with, and 
not only are the lungs rendered liable to disease, but the 
whole body suffers from the insufficient supply of air. 
Oxygen is needed to cleanse the tissues ; and it is no won- 
der that the young lady who foolishly laces her clothing 
tightly, under the mistaken notion that beauty demands 
a small, round waist for a good figure, loses her clear, 
rosy complexion, and becomes pale and sallow. The 
author does not doubt that the corset has destroyed 
more lives than war or pestilence within the last hun- 
dred years. Women have not always been alone in this 
folly ; for according to a reliable author, it appears that 
English fops of a century ago were as much addicted to 
the corset as is the fashionable lady of the present day. 

Pressure about the waist is harmful in a variety of 
ways. It not only interferes with the proper move- 
ments of breathing, but weakens the breathing muscles 



344 MAR, THE MASTERPIECE. 

______ _ 

so that it becomes impossible to expand the chest 
properly, even when the pressure is removed. 

Pressure upon the waist also does great mischief by 
displacing internal organs. The liver and stomach are 
often crowded out of position, and so cruelly compressed 
that they become permanently deformed. We have met 
cases in which examination showed the liver cut nearly 
in two by this outrageous violation of nature's laws. 
Under such circumstances, it is impossible that the 
stomach and liver should be able to do their work 
properly. 

Hanging the clothing upon the hips is a serious evil 
which must not be overlooked. The internal organs are 
dragged down out of position, and sometimes permanent 
injury is done. This is a frequent cause of backache 
and inability to walk any distance, or go up and down 
stairs, without great fatigue. Girls, as well as boys, 
should wear all their clothing suspended from their 
shoulders. Some years ago, the Russian government 
passed a law compelling the soldiers to wear suspenders, 
it having been found that the wearing of pantaloons 
hanging upon the hips and suspended by a belt, 
which was the usual custom, was a grave cause of 
dyspepsia. The German laboring women, who are in 
other respects remarkably strong, surfer much from the 
evil practice of wearing many heavy skirts suspended 
from their hips. 

It must be remembered, however, that the shoulders, 
while the proper organs for bearing the weight of the 
clothing, are not capable of carrying an unlimited 
amount. Warm under-clothing obviates the necessity 
for heavy skirts, which afford little warmth, and are an 



WHAT TO WE AM FOB HEALTH. 345 

incumbrance in walking. Unnecessary weight in cloth- 
ing should always be avoided. The strength expended 
in carrying extra clothing which is not needed for the 
comfort or convenience of the body, is worse than 
wasted, and detracts from a person's available strength 
for useful employment. No apology can be offered for 
the long, heavily trimmed dresses worn by women, and 
it is to be hoped that the intelligent women of the 
country will combine their efforts to bring about a change 
for the better in this respect. 

Freedom of movement requires that the clothing 
should not be too tight about the shoulders, and so made 
that the arms may be extended above the head and in 
all directions without restraint. Garters for the limbs 
and elastics for the arms are to be avoided, as they in- 
terfere with the circulation. 

Experiment. — Tie a cord tightly around the finger, and in 
a few moments it becomes swollen and cold. The venous blood 
accumulates in it, and new, warm, vitalizing blood is kept out. 
The tighter the cord, the more marked the effect produced. 
Constrictions about the limbs of any sort produce the same re- 
sult, to some extent, and so occasion injury. 

Clothing for the Feet. — Proper clothing of the feet 
is a matter of no small importance, as many diseases 
arise from their being improperly clad, and from the 
wearing of shoes or boots of improper shape. Shoes or 
boots with thin soles, worn in damp weather, allow the 
soles of the feet to become damp, or at least to be 
chilled, by walking on cold, wet pavements, and in this 
way persons often take severe colds without really get- 
ting the feet wet. The sole of the shoe should be thick. 
Shoes with rubber soles are now manufactured in Eng- 



346 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

land, and may soon be introduced into this country. 
They are much to be preferred to the ordinary shoe, as 
they protect the foot from injury through damp and cold 
side-walks, besides giving a more secure footing in icy 
weather. The upper should be soft and pliable, and 
should fit the foot so perfectly that no discomfort will 
be experienced the first time the shoe is worn. Tight 
shoes or boots prevent the proper circulation of 
the blood in the feet, and produce corns, bunions, 
swellings, and sometimes still more serious diseases of 
the feet. 

Clothing of the Neek and Head. — The clothing of 
these portions of the body is by no means a matter of 
small consequence. A very large share of colds and 
sore throats are the result of exposure of the head and 
throat. If the head and throat were never covered, 
they would learn to take care of themselves ; but if cov- 
ered a part of the time, and then occasionally exposed, 
serious mischief may result. Coverings for the head 
and throat should be sufficient, but not so warm as to 
cause perspiration, as this will insure taking cold. Per- 
sons who " coddle " themselves most are the ones who 
are most liable to colds. It is well to accustom one's 
self to endure a certain degree of cold ; and when this 
" hardening " process is conducted properly, it is quite 
wonderful to what an extent the system is able to defend 
itself against cold. Travelers say that many of the 
natives of Terra del Fuego wear no clothing, although 
there is frost at all seasons of the year. Even the little 
children run about naked with the temperature at 40° F. 
The ancient inhabitants of England wore no clothing but 
paint, yet, according to historians, were able to endure 
the most severe cold. 



WHAT TO WEAR FOB HEALTH. 347 

Persons who have the head covered during the day, 
and at night sleep in cold rooms or with a window open, 
should wear a night-cap in cold weather. The head 
ought not to be covered except when really necessary, 
as it is heated, and thereby rendered sensitive, in conse- 
quence of which the hair may become diseased and fall 
away. Many cases of baldness originate in this manner. 

Change of Clothing. — The clothing, especially that 
worn next the skin, absorbs a large amount of the waste 
matter thrown off by the skin, and so becomes charged 
with impurities. On this account, the clothing should 
be changed not less often than once a week in the 
winter ; and in the summer season, and at other times 
when the skin is unusually active, health will be promoted 
by a daily change. An excellent plan is to have two 
suits of under-clothing, wearing each on alternate days, 
allowing the one not worn to be exposed to the air in 
the meantime. In cold weather, the comfort of the feet, 
if inclined to be cold, will be greatly promoted by the 
adoption of this plan with the stockings, if not with the 
other under-garments. 

Night-Clothing. — The clothing worn during the 
night should exclude every article worn during the day. 
In winter time, a long woolen gown is as necessary for 
health as for comfort. When the feet and extremities 
are cold at night, woolen bed socks or leggins may be 
needed in addition. 

Beds. — The bed-clothing should be dry and warm. 
A cold bed is necessarily a damp bed, as it condenses 
moisture from the body of the sleeper as well as from 
the air of the room. A damp bedroom becomes musty. 
Thus a person sleeping in such a bed is not only debili- 



348 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

tated by the loss of animal heat, but is poisoned by the 
inhalation of the musty, germ-laden air which he is 
compelled to breathe during at least a third of the 
twenty-four hours. A sleeping-room should always 
contain a stove, unless heated by a furnace or from an 
adjoining and communicating room. The bedroom should 
not be too warm, but should be heated sufficiently to 
insure dryness. 

Bed-clothing and mattresses should be thoroughly 
aired daily, and should be exposed to the direct rays of 
the sun whenever possible. The Italian custom of 
leaving the bedding exposed to the air during the entire 
day is a good one. By this means the excretions 
accumulated from the body during the night are mostly 
removed. 

Bed-clothing should be of porous material ; otherwise 
the skin cannot breathe any more than could the lungs 
with a rubber blanket thrown over the head and gathered 
tightly about the neck. Porous coverings also allow the 
escape of the greater portion of the moisture excreted 
by the skin, which amounts to not less than half a pint 
to a pint during the night. Several thin coverings are 
much better than one or two heavy comfortables . Woolen 
blankets are most suitable, being both light and warm 
as well as porous. 

Feather-beds absorb so readily and retain so tena- 
ciously the exhalations of the body, that they are 
regarded by sanitarians with suspicion. If used, they 
should be thoroughly renovated at least as often as 
every six months, and should be daily exposed to the 
air and sun for two or three hours. It is much better 
to discard them. 



WHAT TO WEAR FOR HEALTH 349 

The length of time spent in bed, usually not less 
than one-third of our whole lives, makes it important 
that all matters pertaining to the hygiene of the bed and 
the sleeping apartment should be attended to with very 
great care and thoroughness. 

In this connection, it is proper to mention the dan- 
gerous habit which children sometimes have of sleeping 
with the head covered by the bed-clothing. Fear of the 
dark, excited by stories of impossible ghosts and improb- 
able robbers, is frequently the cause of this practice. 
The air under the bed-clothing soon becomes very poi- 
sonous, and it not infrequently happens that children 
who are addicted to the practice go to sleep never to 
wake, being found by their parents in the morning 
smothered to death. 

Poisonous Colors. — Numerous cases have occurred 
in which serious illness, accompanied by painful inflam- 
mation of the skin, has arisen from wearing articles of 
clothing colored with poisonous dyes. Flannel under- 
garments, stockings, and colored hat-bands have been 
the most frequent sources of the poison. Red and other 
aniline colors are most likely to be poisonous ; but cases 
of this sort are now less frequent than formerly. 



Ho¥ to Bathe. 




N water, nature has supplied us with one of 
the most efficient means of aiding her in the 
restoration of the sick to health, as well as 
one of the greatest necessities of life. Prop- 
erly used, this remedial agent is capable of ac- 
complishing more for a person suffering with 
the special maladies described in this work, 
than any other one remedy, or than all the 
drugs offered by the entire materia medica 
combined. It is possible, however, that this 

beneficent agent g may do harm as well as good, and 

hence it is important to know how to employ it in a 

rational and scientific manner. 

General Rules for Bathing. — The following general 

rules apply to nearly all baths of every sort : — 

1. A full bath should never be taken within two or 
three hours after eating. 

2. Always, if possible, employ a thermometer to de- 
termine the temperature of the bath. 

3. The temperature of the room during the bath 
should be 75° to 85°. 

4. Aged people should never take very cold or very 
hot baths. 

5. Never take a cold bath when exhausted or chilly. 

[350] 



HOW TO BATHE. 351 



6. A hot bath should always be followed by an ap- 
plication of water at a little lower temperature. 

7. Always drink freely of hot water just before a 
warm bath. 

8. It is usually best to wet the head before a bath. 

9. Always be careful to dry the skin thoroughly 
after a bath. 

10. The body should be rubbed with sufficient vigor 
after each bath to secure a good reaction, and to prevent 
a feeling of chilliness. 

11. After a cool bath, exercise a little to encourage 
the circulation. After a warm bath, rest for an hour 
or so. 

Sponge Bath. — The sponge, or hand bath is the 
simplest and most useful mode of applying water to the 
surface of the body, for it requires the use of only such 
appliances as every one possesses, and it can be em- 
ployed by any one without elaborate preparation, and 
under almost any circumstances. A great quantity of 
water is not required ; a few quarts is a plenty, and a 
pint will answer admirably in an emergency. A soft 
sponge, or a linen or cotton cloth, and one or two soft 
towels, or a sheet, are the other requisites. The hand 
may be used in the absence of a cloth or a sponge for 
applying the water. 

The temperature of the bath should not be above 95°, 
and 90° is generally better. Most people can habitually 
employ a temperature of 75° or 80° without injury. The 
use of a much lower temperature is not commonly advis- 
able, and is often productive of great injury. 

Begin the bath as usual, wetting the head, and sat- 
urating the hair well. Wash the face, then the neck, 



352 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

chest, shoulders, arms, trunk, and back. Rub vigorously 
until the skin is red, to prevent chilling ; for even when 
the temperature of the room is nearly equal to that of 
the body, the rapid evaporation of water from the surface 
will lower the external temperature very rapidly, unless 
a vigorous circulation is maintained. 

After thoroughly bathing the upper portion of the 
body, turn the attention to the lower portion, continuing 
the rubbing of the upper part at brief intervals, to pre- 
vent chilliness. As soon as the bathing is concluded, 
envelop the body in a sheet, and rub dry, or dry the skin 
with a towel. When the surface is nearly or quite dried, 
rub the whole vigorously with the bare hand. 

The bath should not be prolonged more than ten or 
fifteen minutes. Five minutes is sufficient to secure all 
the benefits of the bath, and even three minutes will suf- 
fice for a very good bath. 

Persons who chill easily will find it better to bathe 
only a portion of the body before drying it. Some will 
even find it necessary to retain a portion of the clothing 
upon the lower part of the body while bathing and dry- 
ing the upper part. 

Weakly patients may receive this bath with very lit- 
tle disturbance, even in bed. Only a small portion of 
the body should be uncovered at a time, being bathed, 
dried, rubbed, and then covered while another part is 
treated in a similar way. 

The sponge bath may be administered anywhere 
without clanger of soiling the finest carpet, by taking 
care to make the sponge or cloth nearly dry before ap- 
plying it to the body. A rug may be spread upon the 
floor as an extra precaution. When used for cleanli- 



HOW TO BATHE. 353 



ness, — as it should be daily, or at least two or three 
times a week, — a little fine soap should be added two or 
three times a week, to remove the oilv secretion from 
the skin. 

This bath is applicable whenever there is an abnor- 
mal degree of bodily heat, and in such cases may be 
applied every half-hour without injury, and even more 
frequently. It is useful in cases of nervousness and 
sleeplessness, in chorea and laryngismus stridulus, also 
in that curious affection of children known as " catch in 
the breath." In fact, whenever water is required in any 
form, this bath may be used with advantage, the tem- 
perature being suited to the case. Sponging with wa- 
ter as hot as can be borne will often relieve for several 
hours the profuse sweating of consumptives. Hot 
sponging of the face, neck, and head are useful in re- 
lieving the headache of catarrh and influenza, and in 
stopping nose-bleed. 

For a saline sponge bath, add a tablespoonful of salt 
to each quart of water employed in the bath. 

Full Bath. — For this bath, a tub is required the 
length of the body, about eighteen inches deep, two feet 
wide at the top, and, preferably, six inches narrower at 
the bottom. It is better to have the end intended for 
the head a little elevated. Place in the tub sufficient 
water so that the patient will be entirely covered, with 
the exception of the head, when he lies upon his back. 
During the bath, the body should be vigorously rubbed 
by the bather or an attendant, or both, particular pains 
being taken to knead and manipulate the abdomen in 
a gentle but thorough manner. The temperature of the 
bath, when taken for cleanliness or for its soothing 

23 



354 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

effects, should not be higher than 95° to 98°, and it 
should be cooled to about 85° or 90° just at the conclu- 
sion of the bath, by the addition of cool water. 

Very cold baths are used by some, especially in 
Germany, in the treatment of fevers, so low a tempera- 
ture as 60° F. beiDg often employed. The most ap- 
proved mode, however, is what is called the graduated 
bath, in which the temperature is gradually lowered 
until the desired effect has been produced. 

When used to excite the action of the skin, a hot 
bath should be employed. Begin the bath at 98° or 
100° F., and gradually raise to 108° or 110°, continuing 
for ten or fifteen minutes. Then remove the patient, 
wrap him in blankets, and let him remain sweating half 
an hour to an hour. 

Every family ought to possess conveniences for a 
full bath. Indeed, it is now found in every well-regu- 
lated house in our large cities. It is not so expensive 
but that any man can have it. Portable baths of rubber 
may be obtained, which are worth many times their 
cost. A stationary bath may be made of wood, of the 
dimensions given, and lined with lead or zinc. There 
should be an opening in the lower end for withdrawing 
the water. 

The full bath is one of the most refreshing of all 
baths, being also one of the pleasantest. Employed at 
a low temperature, it is a powerful means of reducing 
excessive heat in fevers. The hot full bath very greatly 
relieves the pain of acute rheumatism, colic, gall-stones, 
and sciatica, and is almost a specific for colds, if taken 
soon after their contraction and just before retiring. 

Very hot and very cold temperatures are very haz- 



HOW TO BATHE. 355 



ardous with this bath, since it involves so large a portion 
of the body. Such extremes are rarely useful in any 
case, and should be used only under the eye of a physi- 
cian. We have found that the cold bath is very much 
better borne if the patient is well anointed with vase- 
line before being placed in the water. The effects are 
not diminished. 

Sweating Paek. — Wrap the patient in woolen blank- 
ets. Place to his hands, side, thighs, and feet, hot 
bricks, or jugs filled with hot water, wrapped in moist 
flannels. Beer bottles filled with hot water and covered 
with wet stockings, are very convenient. Give frequent 
and copious draughts of hot water or some simple tea, as 
peppermint or wintergreen, or some similar drink. Keep 
the head cool by tepid compresses. In a few minutes, 
most copious perspiration will be produced. After the 
bath, treat as after a pack. This is useful in all cases 
in which powerful action of the skin is desirable, as in 
chronic rheumatism, obesity, jaundice, etc. It is one of 
the most excellent means of curing a cold. 

The Vapor Bath. — As a remedial agent, water in 
the form of warm or hot vapor is scarcely less useful 
than in its ordinary form. The vapor bath can be 
readily and successfully administered with such conven- 
iences as every family possesses. Place the patient in 
a cane-seated chair, having first taken the precaution to 
spread over the seat a dry towel. Surround the patient 
and the chair first with a woolen blanket, and then with 
two or three thick comfortables, drawing the blankets 
close around the neck, and allowing them to trail upon 
the floor so as to exclude the air as perfectly as possible. 
Now place under the chair a large pan or pail containing 



356 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

two or three quarts of boiling water. Let the blankets 
fall quickly, so as to retain the rising vapor. After a 
minute or two, raise the blankets a little at one side, 
and carefully place in the vessel a very hot brick or 
stone, dropping the blankets quickly, to avoid the 
admission of cold air. Before the first brick or stone 
has cooled, add another, and so continue until the patient 
perspires freely. The amount of perspiration must be 
judged by the face and forehead, as much of the moisture 
upon the skin beneath the blankets is condensed steam. 

Should the bath become at any time too hot, a little 
air may be admitted by raising the bottom of the blank- 
ets a little, being careful to avoid chilling the patient 
in doing so. The bath should seldom be continued 
more than half an hour, and fifteen to twenty minutes 
will usually accomplish all that is desired by the bath. 
If too long continued, it produces faintness. A too high 
temperature will be indicated by a strongly accelerated 
pulse, throbbing of the temples, flushed face, and head- 
ache. The head should be kept cool by a compress wet 
in cool water and often changed. The temperature of 
the bath should be from 100° to 115°. Unpleasant 
effects are sometimes produced at 120°. 

After this bath, apply the tepid sponge or full bath. 
No time should be allowed to elapse after the blankets 
are removed before the concluding bath is applied, as the 
patient will easily chill. He should not be allowed to 
become chilly by exposure to cool air before the applica- 
tion of the spray, douche, or other bath, which should be 
followed by vigorous rubbing. 

For "breaking up a cold," "breaking chills," relieving 
rheumatism, soreness of the muscles from overexertion, 



HOW TO BATHE. 357 



and relaxing stiffened joints, this is a valuable agent. 
It may also be used to advantage in chronic diseases in 
which there is inactivity of the skin, liver, or kidneys, 
being a powerful diaphoretic; but great care must be 
exercised to avoid excessive use, as too frequent repeti- 
tion of the bath produces debility. 

This is a milder application than the hot-air bath, 
unless employed at a high temperature, 120° or more, 
when it becomes more severe. 

In an institution where the bath is a daily necessity, 
a permanent arrangement for giving the bath is generally 
employed. It usually consists of a box in which the 
patient sits upon a stool, his head being allowed to 
remain outside by means of a suitable opening. A wet 
towel is placed around the neck, to prevent the steam 
from rising about the head. 

Steam may be generated by boiling water in a box 
with a large spirit lamp or a gas burner, or it may be 
conducted into the bath by a rubber tube connecting 
with a tight boiler. 

After this bath, a little cold water should be dashed 
over the body to tone up the skin; or if continued 
sweating is desired, the patient should be wrapped 
warmly in bed, with woolen blankets next to the skin. 

Hot- Air Bath. — In administering this bath, prepare 
the patient precisely as directed for the vapor bath. 
Instead of placing under the chair a vessel of hot water, 
place a large alcohol lamp or a small dish containing a 
few ounces of alcohol. When all is ready, light the 
lamp or alcohol, and carefully exclude the air. It is 
hardly necessary to suggest the propriety of putting the 
lamp in such a position as to insure safety from fire. If 



358 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

alcohol is used in an open dish, it is important to wipe 
the outside of the vessel quite free from any trace of 
alcohol, as otherwise it might be communicated to the 
floor or carpet. Also avoid spilling the alcohol in putting 
the lamp or dish in place, for the same reason. It is a 
wise precaution to put the lamp or dish in a plate or 
shallow dish containing a little water. The hot-air bath 
should be conducted in the same manner as the vapor 
bath; but the patient will bear much higher temperatures, 
as air is a much poorer conductor of heat than vapor. 
A heat of 130° to 160° F. is not at all disagreeable to 
the patient. It should be followed by a cooling bath, as 
directed for the vapor bath. When perspiration is not 
readily produced by the hot-air or Turkish bath, the 
patient should be given a hot full bath from three to 
five minutes, and then again exposed to the hot air, 
when perspiration will quickly start. The vapor bath 
may be used for the same purpose. 

This bath is useful for all cases in which the vapor 
and Turkish baths are recommended, and is most con- 
venient for use in families, as it can be improvised so 
readily. It cannot be excelled as a diaphoretic, and is 
an excellent means of eliminating the poison of malaria, 
syphilis, and hydrophobia. An English naval surgeon 
reported through the British Medical Journal, a year or 
two ago, a large number of cases of syphilis successfully 
treated by the hot-air bath, combined with a careful 
diet. 

The Oil Bath. — The oil bath was much employed 
by the ancients in connection with the Homan and 
Turkish baths. It consists in rubbing the skin very 
thoroughly with some unctuous substance. Olive-oil 



HOW TO BATHE. 359 



may be employed, but cosmoline and vaseline, refined 
products of coal-oil, are much used, and are preferable. 
Olive-oil cannot be obtained pure except at almost 
fabulous prices. That sold in the drug stores as olive- 
oil, is really cotton-seed oil, and mixtures of lard with 
various other vegetable oils. We have found pure re- 
fined cocoanut-oil to be the best of all for this purpose. 

A warm bath should be first administered. Then 
dry the patient as usual, and apply the unguent, taking 
care to rub it in thoroughly. Simply greasing the sur- 
face is not the object sought. The skin and flesh should 
be worked, rubbed, and kneaded, until the oil nearly 
disappears from the surface. The skin should then be 
wiped clean with a soft cloth. 

The object of this application is to supply the place 
of a defective natural secretion of oleaginous ma- 
terial, to increase the activity of the skin, and to di- 
minish the susceptibility to cold. How this is accom- 
plished, readily appears. The oil is a simple substitute 
for the sebaceous secretion, which is, in certain classes 
of diseases, notably deficient. The thorough manipula- 
tion of the skin which is necessary in applying the oil, 
and which is facilitated by a lubricant, directly promotes 
cutaneous activity. Whether the oil itself has any 
direct effect in increasing functional activity of the skin, 
cannot be positively affirmed, although it is reasonably 
supposable that the skin would act more nearly normal 
when a deficient element is supplied than when it is 
wanting. Recent experiments show that the skin 
radiates heat faster when varnished or anointed, and 
this may account in part for the warming effect of the 
oil bath, as also for the protection it affords against 
taking cold after warm baths. 



360 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Sitz Bath. — The sitz bath, also known as the hip 
bath, is one of the most useful baths employed in hydro- 
pathic treatment. Its utility was fully recognized by the 
early practitioners, who sometimes kept their patients 
so long in the bath that they became almost literally 
water-soaked, and were so numb from the continued ap- 
plication of cold water as to possess almost no external 
sensibility. It is said in some cases the skin could be 
rubbed off in attempts to gain a reaction, without the 
patient's knowledge. 

For this bath, a common tub may be used, by plac- 
ing a support under one edge to elevate it one or two 
inches ; but it is better to use a tub made for the pur- 
pose, which should have the back part raised eight or ten 
inches higher than the front, to support the back, the 
sides gradually sloping so as to support the arms of the 
bather. The bottom should be elevated two or three 
inches. The depth in front should be about the same as 
that of a common wash-tub. 

Enough water is required to cover the hips, and ex- 
tend a little way up the abdomen ; four to six gallons 
will suffice. Any temperature may be employed, being 
suited to the condition of the patient. The duration of 
the bath will also vary according to the condition of the 
patient. A short, cool bath is tonic in its effects, like 
all short, cool applications ; a more prolonged one is a 
powerful sedative. The hot sitz is very exciting in its 
effects, if long continued. The warm bath is relaxing. 
The hip and trunk should be well rubbed during the 
bath by the patient or an attendant. The bather should 
be covered with a sheet or blanket during the bath. 
If sweating is desirable, use several blankets. 



HOW TO BATHE. 361 



The sitz bath should seldom be taken either very hot 
or very cold. A good plan for administering it. and one 
which will be applicable to most cases.. is this : Begin 
the bath at 92° or 93°. If a thermometer is not at 
hand, pour into the bath-tub three gallons of fresh well 
or spring water, and then add one gallon of boiling wa- 
ter. This will give the desired temperature. After the 
patient has been in the bath ten minutes, cool it down 
to 85° 3 which may be done by adding a gallon of well- 
water. Continue the bath five minutes longer, then rub 
the whole body vigorously with the wet hand, and wipe 
dry. 

The sitz bath is useful for chronic congestion of the 
abdominal and pelvic viscera, diarrhea, piles, dysentery, 
constipation, and genital and urinary disorders. It is 
very valuable in many nervous affections, especially 
those which involve the brain, as cerebral congestion 
and hyperemia. There is no better remedy for a cold 
than a very warm sitz bath taken while fasting and just 
before retiring. It should be continued until gentle per- 
spiration is induced. 

Wet Girdle. — This was a favorite remedy with the 
early German hydropathists, and it is a very useful 
appliance when properly employed, though it has been 
much abused by excessive use. To apply it well, a 
coarse towel three or four yards in length is most con- 
venient for use. AVet one-half of this in tepid water, 
wring it until it will not drip, anil apply it to the abdo- 
men, placing one end at the side and bringing it across 
the front first, so that two thicknesses of the wet por- 
tion will cover the abdomen. After winding the whole 
closely around the body, fasten the ends securely with 



362 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

pins or with tapes attached for the purpose. Then 
cover with two or three thicknesses of dry flannel. For 
feeble persons, it is better to wet only that portion of 
the towel which covers the abdomen. This is a very 
efficient remedy for constipation, chronic diarrhea, and 
most intestinal disorders. It is equally valuable in dys- 
pepsia, torpid liver, enlarged spleen, and uterine derange- 
ments. 

The Enema. — Fecal accumulations in the lower 
bowel are more quickly and easily removed by an enema 
of warm water than any purgative, laxative, or cathartic 
ever discovered or invented ; and the use of this remedy 
is not accompanied by the unpleasant and painful grip- 
ing and tenesmus which often attend the use of cathar- 
tics. The administration is a trifle more troublesome, 
but the results are enough superior to more than repay 
the inconvenience. The syphon or fountain syringe is 
far preferable to any other for administering injections. 
Water about blood-warm should be used for the purpose 
of relieving constipation, and a considerable quantity — 
one to three pints, or more — may be used. The water 
should be retained for a few moments while the bowels 
are kneaded and shaken. If there is difficulty in retain- 
ing the enema, a folded napkin may be pressed against 
the anus. In hemorrhage and inflammation of the lower 
bowel, cool or cold clysters should be employed, and 
should be retained as long as possible. The copious cool 
enema is a valuable antiphlogistic remedy used in con- 
junction with the cool bath in cases of violent febrile 
excitement, as typhoid fever, when the temperature rises 
above 103° F. It is also useful in certain cases of 
spermatorrhoea. 



ROW TO BATHE. 363 



The enema is a most perfect substitute for purgatives 
in general. Cases are very rare in which a cathartic 
drug will be found necessary if the enema is properly 
used. But the enema may become a source of mischief 
if abused. If habitually relied upon to secure a move- 
ment of the bowels for a long time, the bowels lose their 
activity, and the most obstinate constipation sometimes 
results, precisely as from the prolonged use of purgatives. 

Compresses. — The compress is a wet cloth or band- 
age applied to a part. The object may be to cool the 
part under treatment, or to retain the heat. The com- 
press may be used with equal success in either case. 
When the part is to be cooled, a compress composed of 
several folds should be wet in cold or iced water, as re- 
quired, and placed upon the part after being wrung so it 
will not drip. It should be changed as often as every 
five minutes. This is often neglected, to the injury of 
the patient. A very cold compress may be prepared by 
placing snow or pounded ice between the folds of the 
compress. This will not need renewal so frequently: 
but its effects must be carefully watched, as injury may 
be done by neglect. In applying cold to such delicate 
parts as the eye, a very thin compress is better. It 
should be renewed once in five minutes, at least. 

When moist warmth is required, a thick compress 
should be used, being wrung out of tepid water, and cov- 
ered with a dry cloth to exclude the air. Soft, dry flan- 
nel is an excellent covering. Rubber or oiled silk may 
be employed when the compress is not to be retained 
more than a few hours ; but if it is to be worn continu- 
ously, they will be injurious, as they are impervious to 
the air, and thus interfere with the function of the skin. 



364 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The effects of a compress thus employed are identical 
with those of the poultice, and the application is a much 
more cleanly one. 

Compresses are applicable to all cases in which poul- 
tices are commonly used. They may replace the old- 
fashioned plasters with profit and comfort to the patient. 

Fomentations. — This is a mode of applying moist 
heat by means of a flannel or sponge wet in hot water. 
The fomentation is a local application analogous to such 
general appliances as the hot pack, vapor bath, and hot- 
air bath. It consists in the application of a cloth wet in 
hot water. It may be considered as a hot compress. 
Fold a soft flannel cloth so that it will be of three or four 
thicknesses. Lay it in a basin, pour boiling water upon 
it, and wring it dry by folding it in a dry towel. Or, if 
only one end of the cloth is wet, it may be wrung by 
folding the dry portion outside of the wet ; in wringing, 
the whole will become equally wet. Apply it to the pa- 
tient as hot as can be borne. The second application 
can usually be made much hotter than the first. Fre- 
quently dipping the hands in cold water will enable the 
attendant to wring the cloths much hotter than he would 
be able to do otherwise. 

A better way is to fold the flannel as it is to "be 
employed, and then dip in very hot water, lifting it out 
by the corner, and placing it in the middle of a towel. 
Roll up quickly, lengthwise of the towel, and wring 
nearly as dry as possible by twisting the ends of the 
towel. In this way the fomentation can be wrung out 
much hotter than with the hands. Of course it will be 
too hot to apply to the bare flesh ; but do not waste heat 
by letting it cool. Protect the skin by one or more 



SOW TO BATHE. 365 



thicknesses of flannel, and apply at once, covering with 
another dry flannel. The fomentation will gradually 
warm through, and will retain its heat two or three times 
as long as when applied in the ordinary way. 

The hot cloths should be renewed once in two to 
five minutes. Two cloths should be employed, so that 
the second may be applied as soon as the first is removed. 
To retain the heat, a dry flannel, rubber, or oil-cloth 
should be placed over the fomentation. The application 
may be continued for ten minutes to half an hour, or 
longer in special cases. 

This appliance is very powerful, and should not be 
employed to excess. 

Alternate hot and cold fomentations are frequently 
more efficient than the continuous fomentation. Hot 
applications should generally be followed by the cool or 
tepid compress for four or five minutes, or the part 
should be briskly rubbed by the hand dipped in cold 
water, until the redness produced by the fomentation in 
part disappears. In neuralgia, gout, and chronic rheu- 
matism, in which the cooling has a tendency to cause 
the return of the pain, the parts should be covered with 
dry, warm flannels, and so protected from the air. By 
this means, the good effects of the application may be 
prolonged. 

When applied to the head for some time without 
intermission, it will often occasion faintness ; hence a 
cooler application should be made after the use of hot 
cloths for fifteen or twenty minutes. 

If the applications must be continued for a long time, 
it is well, in most cases, to employ them at a temperature 
slightly lower than when they are to be used for only a 
few minutes. 



366 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The uses of the fomentation are very numerous. It 
is indicated whenever there is local pain without excess- 
ive heat or evidences of acute inflammation. Local 
congestions, neuralgia, toothache, pleurisy, and most lo- 
cal pains, vanish beneath its potent influence as if by 
magic. For indigestion, colic, torpid liver, dyspepsia, 
constipation, and rheumatic pains, it is a remedy of great 
power, and is used with almost uniform success. In re- 
lieving sick headache, by application to the head, back 
of the neck, and the stomach, its efficiency is unrivaled. 
The fomentation is also extremely useful in cases of 
great loss of blood, in which fatal fainting may be pre- 
vented by making a hot application to the head, and so 
encouraging the circulation of blood in the brain. 



Jf\ 




Sexual Sins 

AND THER CO¥SEClUE¥CES. 



ATURE has guarded all the laws which she 
has made for the government of the functions 
of the human body by means of severe penal- 
ties, which are certain to be visited upon the 
reckless individual who lives in heedless disre- 
gard of the laws of health ; and no form of 
physical transgression is followed by such ter- 
rific and unmitigated penalties as those which 
we are to consider in this chapter under the 
head of " Sexual Sins." 



SELF-EBUSE, OR MESTURBET10N, 

Self-abuse, or masturbation, is probably the most 
common, and certainly one of the most damaging, of all 
forms of sexual vice. The nature of the practice is un- 
fortunately too well known to require any precise de- 
scription, and it will suffice to say that it consists in ex- 
citing the genitals by mechanical means of some sort. 
There are, of course, no accurate statistics wherewith the 
extent to which this vice prevails may be determined ; 
but there can be no doubt that the evil far exceeds in 

[3671 




368 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

magnitude the estimates of those whose opportunities for 
observation have not been such as to give them an ade- 
quate idea of this dreadful physical and moral blight. 
For many years, the author has occupied the position of 
superintendent of one of the largest medical establish- 
ments in the world, which has afforded him opportunities 
for gaining information on this subject that has convinced 
him that very few persons indeed properly understand 
the extent to which this evil prevails ; and the results of 
many years' observation and very extensive research 
have convinced him that the vice has come to be, among 
boys at least, almost universal. He does not wish to be 
understood as intimating that there are not many noble 
exceptions. Undoubtedly, there are boys who escape 
the moral contamination which often leads to the forma- 
tion of this habit at a very early age, but their number 
must be very small when compared with the great mul- 
titudes who, often at the very threshold of life, are in- 
troduced to this soul and body destroying vice. Some- 
what extensive inquiry during travels in England and 
Continental Europe a few years since, led the author to 
believe that the vice is somewhat less commonly prac- 
ticed, at least among the peasantry of European coun- 
tries, than in this country, which is perhaps due to the 
greater simplicity of habits, particularly in diet, and the 
forced habits of industry to which the young of both 
sexes are educated from a very early age, in the coun- 
tries referred to. A medical author of some prominence 
declares that in Russia the practice is universal among 
the young of both sexes. 

That the practice prevailed, to some extent at least, 
in ancient times, is evidenced by the frequent allusions 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 369 

to it in the writings of ancient medical authors. Hip- 
pocrates, the father of medicine, refers to the practice, 
and describes the terrible consequences which follow 
its indulgence under the name of tabes dorsalis, a pict- 
ure of which he draws, and as faithfully portrays the 
condition of the unfortunate victims of this horrible vice 
as if the description were written by a modern medical 
author, instead of the great Grecian physician who flour- 
ished more than two thousand years ago. 

The vice of self-abuse seems to be almost entirely 
confined to the human species. It is readily acquired, 
however, by some animals, particularly the monkey, 
though it is doubtful whether in this case the animal has 
not been instructed by some vicious human being. 

Causes of Self- Abuse. — First of all causes which 
may be mentioned, are evil associations. No better illus- 
tration of the language of the Bible, " Evil communica- 
tions corrupt good manners," can possibly be found than 
is afforded by the constant propagation of this fearfuL 
evil through evil associates. Both public and private 
schools afford excellent opportunities for corrupt lads to 
contaminate their fellows ; and that these opportunities 
are well improved, may be confirmed by the testimony 
of almost any school-boy. Probably there is not one 
boy in fifty, above twelve years of age, in attendance at 
our public schools, who does not know more or less of 
this degrading vice, having gained his information, per- 
haps, at a very early age from some evil associate. Pri- 
mary schools are often nurseries of vice as well as of 
learning, and the author has had good reason for believ- 
ing that in some schools of this class the vice has pre- 
vailed so extensively that scarcely a single pupil has es- 

24 



370 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

caped its blighting influence. A boy of tender years is 
sent to one of these schools from the seclusion of home, 
where he has been carefully guarded from every taint of 
vice and vulgarity, and is almost instantly set upon by 
boys of his own age or older, and instructed in the filthy 
practices in which they are already adepts. The little 
fellow, ignorant of the nature of the vice, falls an easy 
prey to it, and only learns the evil, physical and moral, 
when he has become so thoroughly entangled in the toils 
of the habit as to make escape all but impossible ; or 
when, at a still later hour, he awakens to the fact that 
his manhood is gone, his intellect weakened, and himself 
become a physical, mental, and moral wreck. 

Boys are sometimes led astray by this alluring vice, 
even before they are sent to school. Fond parents may 
imagine that because their children are not allowed to 
run upon the streets, are kept from the public schools, 
and carefully guarded within the precincts of home, they 
certainly must be pure and free from this all-destroying 
vice ; but we have often discovered its existence in 
small boys whose parents were ready to stake their 
lives upon their innocence, so blind and ignorant were 
they respecting the possible sources through which con- 
tamination might come. Visits from neighbor's children, 
allowing boys to sleep with other boys of their own age 
or older whose habits are not known, a casual acquaint- 
ance formed in the back yard, through the garden fence, 
— all these opportunities may be sufficient to sow the 
seed of physical and mental ruin. 

Sometimes children yet " in arms," even nursing in- 
fants, are taught the vile practice by ignorant or wicked 
nurses. In some European countries, nurses habitually 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 371 

resort to this means of quieting troublesome infants ; and 
we have met some instances in which this reprehensible 
practice had been resorted to by nurses^in this country. 
The horrible results of such a practice may be more 
readily imagined than described in these pages, and the 
possibility of the evil's originating in this way should lead 
mothers to exercise the greatest caution in the selection 
of those who are to have the care of their children, 
even those of the tenderest age. Those who are them- 
selves addicted to this evil practice, often have a horrible 
anxiety to communicate the vile knowledge which they 
possess to their companions, and never let an opportu- 
nity slip for instructing some one in the same filthy prac- 
tices of which they are guilty. 

We have met, however, a good many cases in which 
the victims of the habit declared most firmly that they 
had never received any instruction of this sort. How 
the habit was begun, they could hardly tell, but thought 
it to be the result of accidental discovery. Frequently, 
local irritation of some sort will produce an abnormal ex- 
citement of the parts, which leads to the disclosure of 
the fatal secret. A constipated condition of the bowels, 
the irritation of thread-worms in the rectum, and partic- 
ularly irritation arising from inattention to local cleanli- 
ness, may give rise to the habit by provoking rubbing 
or scratching of the parts. The condition known as 
phimosis, elsewhere described, and abnormal length of 
the prepuce, either of which may cause retention of the 
normal secretions, and provoke an abnormal amount of 
secretion, are undoubtedly frequent predisposing causes 
of this practice. 

Among the most potent of predisposing causes of 



372 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

the practice must be mentioned bad diet. Excessive 
use of flesh food and the use of condiments have a pow- 
erful influence in producing an abnormal irritability of 
of the nervous system, and the special local excitement 
and irritability which favors the early development of 
sexual feelings, and stimulates them in the most marked 
degree when once aroused. The boy whose blood is 
made hot and feverish with stimulating food, whose 
nerves are irritated and excited by mustard, pepper- 
sauce, and other exciting condiments, is poorly prepared 
to resist the temptations to sexual indulgence which are 
certain to come to him when he mingles with other boys 
on the street, at school, or wherever he may come in 
contact with them. A man rushing through a burning 
building, among blazing fagots, with sparks flying in 
every direction, with tongues of flame darting at him 
from every side, would be considered very reckless if he 
should venture to carry with him upon his arm an 
open bucket filled with gunpowder, or if he should 
smear his clothing with pitch, oil, or other inflammable 
material ; but such a man would be in no greater danger 
than the lad whose blood is inflamed with heating, 
stimulating food when he goes out tp mingle with the 
world, and meets on every hand the tempting allure- 
ments which are certain to assail him. 

The use of tobacco must also be looked upon as a pre- 
disposing cause of sexual vice. Tobacco stimulates and 
inflames the nerves, and produces a premature develop- 
ment of the sexual nature. Tobacco-using boys in- 
variably have a senile appearance. They are old for 
their years. Not only this, but the habit of tobacco- 
using leads to association with boys who are addicted to 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 373 

sins of various sorts, and who readily communicate their 
corrupt practices to their associates. 

The whole life of the average city boy, brought up 
in the usual way, tends to develop abnormally the worst 
side of his nature. Almost as soon as he is born, the 
depraving process begins. His nurse envelops the lower 
portion of the trunk in many folds of diapers, which pro- 
duce abnormal heat of the parts, and consequently ab- 
normal development. Through the inattention of care- 
less nurses, these diapers are not always changed as 
soon as they become soiled, and the retained secretions 
irritate and still further excite these parts. Sometimes, 
also, the evil is aggravated by covering the many folds 
by oil or rubber cloth, or some other impervious mate- 
rial. Continued for several months, sometimes two 
years or more, this practice must necessarily result in 
producing local irritations and excitements which tend 
very strongly in a vicious direction. 

Obscene Literature. — With older boys, the reading 
of vile books and the circulation of obscene pictures has 
been a most potent cause of the propagation of vile prac- 
tices of every sort. By means of foul stories and vile 
pictures, the imagination becomes corrupt, the love of, 
and respect for, purity is destroyed, the barriers against 
vice are broken down, and the boy becomes an easy prey 
to corruption of every sort. A few years ago, this evil 
became so extensively prevalent, and the business of 
publishing and circulating vile pictures and literature 
was carried on so openly, it became evident that some- 
thing must be done to suppress it. An Eastern phil- 
anthropic gentleman formed an association for the pur- 
pose of accomplishing this object, and secured the pas- 



374 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

sage of laws which enabled them to suppress the circula- 
tion of obscene books, pictures, and kindred articles 
through the mails. Mr. Anthony Comstock was made 
the executive agent of the Society, and through his 
labors, a great reform has been accomplished. The vile 
traffic has been suppressed to a very great degree, and 
it is to be hoped that a very active agent in propagating 
the vice has been permanently crippled. 

In the sixth annual report of the Society for the 
Suppression of Vice, special attention is given to the 
evils resulting from the circulation of what are termed 
"Boy's Papers." We cannot do better than quote the 
following paragraphs, which thoroughly expose the evil 
influence of these publications, which, by destroying 
respect for morality and religion, encourage grossness 
and vulgarity, and render boys susceptible to evils 
of all kinds, and to none more than to the evils which 
lead to the vices we have been considering : — 

" These papers are sold everywhere, and at a price 
that brings them within the reach of any child. They 
are stories of criminal life. The leading characters are 
youthful criminals who revel in the haunts of iniquity. 
Many of these stories are written with a vein of licen- 
tiousness throughout, debasing the mind of youth as 
totally as the baser sort of books and pictures. Read 
before the intellect is quickened, or the judgment ma- 
tured sufficient to show the harm of dwelling on these 
things, they educate our youth in all the odious features 
of crime. These publications are the offspring of some 
of the weekly journals, that seem to run a muck-rake 
through the haunts of sin, and from the police court and 
slums of society gather weekly the sickening details 



>EXUAL SINS AND THE IB CONSEQUENCES. 375 

that never should be put before the eyes of adults, much 
less children. What is the result? The knife, the 
dagger, and the bludgeon, used in the sinks of iniquity 
and by hardened criminals, are also found in the school- 
room, the house, and the play-ground of tender youth. 
Our court-rooms are thronged with infant criminals — 
with baby felons. 

" The following are a few facts that have been 
brought to the attention of the Society : — 

" Our agent arrested a young man nineteen years of 
age, for advertising and sending through the mails, under 
about a dozen aliases, the most obscene matter. While 
searching for this vile trash in his sleeping-room at his 
father's house, the agent found a mass of these ; Boy's 
Papers ' piled up in one corner. Xo sooner had the 
prisoner been discovered, than he started back, exclaim- 
ing with great force, ' There, there is the cause of my 
ruin — that has cursed me and brought me to this ! ' 

"A young lad had been for months employed by a 
gentleman in Brooklyn, who had reposed all confidence 
in him, and showed him everv kindness. After awhile 
he began to miss sums of money varying from ten cents 
to fifteen dollars. When questioned, he assumed the 
r61e of innocence, as pictured in the story when the thief 
is caught and accused of his crime. Then he threatened, 
then defied, then wept, — injured innocence. — and at last 
confessed funlike the story) 1 . When asked what papers 
he had been reading, he named two. and said he never 
thought of doing wrong till he read those stories. 

•• A lad about sixteen years of age in Buffalo, from 
reading these stories, as he afterward confessed, conceived 
the idea of robbing his employer's safe. In accordance 



376 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

with the description of the story, he makes an impression 
of the safe key, takes the same to a locksmith, orders it 
made. The locksmith, knowing the lad, informs his 
employer. He then makes the key, leaving it imperfect. 
The lad takes it, tries it, and coolly brings it back to be 
altered. He tries again, and is arrested. Then he 
defiantly informs them that it is lncky they caught him 
as they did, or he would hare had his fortune and 
been off. 

" Two boys were recently arrested in this city trying 
to steal a ride west on the railroad. One had robbed 
his employer 6T some fifteen dollars. They had armed 
themselves, one with an old rusty revolver, and another 
with a dirk, or knife, and were starting west to seek 
their fortunes. 

" A boy ten years of age was arrested and convicted 
for burglary. He was sent to a reformatory institution, 
and was pardoned out by Gov. Robinson on account of 
his age. He had been out but a few days when he and 
two other boys about his own age were arrested in the 
act of another burglary. 

" Repeated instances have occurred within the last 
few years where boys have become brigands, and have 
banded themselves together with an oath of secrecy, to 
plunder and pillage, having a rendezvous in some cave, 
or deserted house, or some underground saloon. 

" The principal of a large boys' school in this State 
noticed, a manifest disorder in his school, and upon a 
thorough investigation, he discovered that the boys had 
these story papers ; and the coarse joke and the slang 
expression, the low trick and the spirit of deceit and 
disobedience characterizing the story, were acted out in 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. ZTi 

e very-day life. He called the best of the boys together, 
asking them what they thought of these papers. They 
were unanimous in saying, c They are not fit for anybody 
to read, and are full of slang and coarse language.' " 

In almost every news office, one sees displayed in a 
conspicuous position such publications as the Police 
Gazette, Police News, etc., publications with accounts 
of the vilest and most brutal crimes written in a manner 
the best calculated to encourage vice and vulgarity, and 
to corrupt the taste and morals of the young. 

Signs of the Vice. — It is of the utmost importance 
that parents should be thoroughly conversant with the 
evidences by means of which the addiction to this 
unwholesome vice may be discovered. It should be 
remarked at the outset that only detection in the act 
can be considered as absolutely positive proof, and that 
no single symptom of the practice should be considered 
as conclusive evidence ; but when a large number of the 
signs enumerated are present in a given case, the evidence 
may be considered sufficiently conclusive to warrant the 
employment of radical measures to reform the child. 
The following are among the leading signs of self- 
abuse : — 

1. Change in character. If a boy who has been 
bright, cheerful, obedient, frank, and energetic, becomes 
without any apparent cause, fretful, irritable, sullen, 
stupid, and reticent, the evidence is very strong that he 
has become addicted to this evil practice. 

2. Sudden decline in health without any acute illness 
or other apparent cause. It should be remembered, 
however, that intestinal worms, disorders of digestion, 
loss of sleep, overstudy and overwork may produce such 



378 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

an impairment of healtK as to give rise to loss of flesh, 
general weakness, paleness of the face, black circles 
about the eyes, and other symptoms of exhaustion, 
although these causes of decline are far less frequent 
than the one first referred to. Sometimes the symptoms 
of decline are so great that the child or youth is supposed 
to be suffering from consumption. In such a case, a 
physical examination of the lungs will show no disease, 
but a thorough investigation will disclose the fact that 
the individual is a masturbator. It ought to be men- 
tioned, however, that the practice may actually give rise 
to consumption, so that the disease may really exist 
when the habit is present, as the result of its long 
continuance. 

3. Precocious development is another suspicious 
symptom. A child that has a senile look needs looking 
after. 

4. Deficiency of development is likewise a result of 
the same cause. When practiced extensively, it stunts 
the growth in a most remarkable degree. The chest, 
instead of expanding, remains flat and narrow. The 
limbs are lank and feeble. The voice does not acquire 
its natural depth and fullness. Even the development 
of the beard at proper age is deficient. Both mind and 
body suffer from the devitalizing influence of the vice. 

5. Unnatural languor, lassitude, and dullness, espe- 
cially in the morning, should attract attention. A 
healthy child is naturally active and full of life and 
animal spirits. The traits named, especially if accompa- 
nied by vacancy of expression, may well give rise to 
suspicion. 

6. Love of being alone is another very suspicious 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 379 

sign which lays the child open to grave suspicion of 
being addicted to this vice. A child that habitually 
secretes itself from observation should be carefully 
watched. 

7. Unnatural timidity in a child that previously had 
natural self-possession and confidence. There are other 
causes of timidity, however, and it would certainly be 
very wrong to accuse every bashful child of being ad- 
dicted to this practice. 

8. An appearance of unnatural boldness is a not in- 
frequent symptom. Some young men, knowing that ina- 
bility to look a person in the eye is regarded as a suspi- 
cious symptom of the habit, assume an appearance of 
boldness which is quite as unnatural as the symptom 
which he undertakes to hide. We have sometimes been 
told by persons addicted to this habit that they 
frequently found themselves staring at people in a most 
disagreeable way, but seemed to be powerless to help 
themselves. 

9. A capricious appetite in children, while sometimes 
the result of dyspepsia or of intestinal worms, is very 
frequently the result of this practice. Tobacco-using 
should also be mentioned as a suspicious sign. Although 
it is not directly the result of the practice, it is pretty 
certain to be accompanied by it. Depraved habits, such 
as the eating of clay, chalk, slate-pencils, etc., are fre- 
quently observed in these cases. 

10. Roundness of shoulders, or a stooping posture in 
sitting, sometimes result from these causes. 

11. An unnaturally stiff, wriggling gait is sometimes 
due to the same cause. 

12. Extreme nervousness, twitching of the muscles, 



380 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

and lack of self-control, are symptoms seen in children 
addicted to this practice. 

13. Little boys who show a decided preference for 
the society of little girls, need careful watching. 

14. The boy who complains of pain in the back, 
weakness of the legs, and headache, if he has previously 
been a strong and healthy child, is probably addicted to 
bad habits. 

15. Unnatural size and fullness of the superficial 
veins of the body, particularly of the hands, feet, and 
legs, are symptoms worthy of attention. 

16. Wetting the bed is frequently the result of an 
unnatural irritability of the parts, produced by self-abuse. 

17. Palpitation of the heart and irregular beating of 
the heart are frequently the result of this cause. 

18. In older boys, pimples upon the face, especially 
when appearing upon the forehead as well as upon other 
parts of the face, are strong evidences of irritation of the 
sexual organs, produced by self-abuse. 

19. Epileptic fits, occurring in young children who 
have previously been healthy, should lead to a careful 
investigation of the child's habits. 

20. Constant coldness and moisture of the palms in 
young persons who are not suffering from any serious 
constitutional malady, frequently arise from the ex- 
haustion produced by masturbation. 

21. In boys who begin the practice some years 
before puberty, there is generally an abnormal develop- 
ment of the parts. If the practice is continued some 
time after puberty, the organs become relaxed and 
diminished in size. 

22. Stains upon the under-clothing, night clothing, or 
bedding should lead to an investigation. 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 381 

Parents should carefully observe the habits of their 
children, and on the discovery of any of the above- 
named symptoms, should make a thorough-going investi- 
gation of the matter. Parents are very likely to be 
easily led to believe that their children, at least, are 
innocent. The fact is, children are very much alike, 
and a somewhat extensive observation has convinced us 
that intellectual children — those who have had good 
moral training, and would seem to be less likely to ac- 
quire this evil practice — are even more likely to become 
addicted to it than those of a lower grade of intellect, 
who have more robust bodies, and hence a healthier con- 
dition of the nervous system. The first class, in conse- 
quence of a more highly sensitive organism, are more 
excitable and more easily fascinated by the destroying 
vice. 

Effects of Self- Abuse. — There is no doubt but that 
the effects of this vice have been sometimes overdrawn; 
but while this has been the case once, the contrary has 
occurred many times. Numerous medical writers, ob- 
serving the disposition of quacks to picture in a graphic 
and highly colored manner the effects of the evil prac- 
tice, in their efforts to counteract the designs of merce- 
nary charlatans, have frequently, in the opinion of the 
writer, committed the gross error of treating the matter 
as one of trivial importance, denying that results of 
the very gravest character may follow the practice if it 
is long continued. It is undoubtedly true that some 
persons have been able to continue the practice for many 
years, apparently without very grave results ; but while 
this has sometimes been the case, it has many times 
occurred that persons who had practiced the habit for a 



382 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

much less period of time, were afflicted by results most 
deplorable in character. The same may be said of many 
other evil practices. Some men are able to practice the 
habit with apparent impunity for many years ; while 
others are rapidly destroyed by it. This being the case, 
and as it cannot be determined beforehand whether the 
results will be great or small, speedy or remote, it is 
evident that the wwst results which are observed in any 
case, may make their appearance in any other case, and 
hence may be fairly presented as a picture of the possi- 
ble results of the practice, and employed as an influence 
to prevent boys and young men from engaging in it, or 
to lead them to discontinue it, when the practice has 
already been acquired. 

This evil practice, as already intimated, exercises its 
baneful influence upon both body and mind. The hu- 
man being who gives himself up to this sort of sinful in- 
dulgence, and abandons himself to the gratification of 
beastly lusts by this means, is likely to become, sooner or 
later, a complete wreck physically, mentally, and 
morally. Let us observe : — 

The Physical Effects of Self-Abuse. — As else- 
where remarked, the nervous excitement attending ex- 
ercise of the sexual organs is the most exciting of any 
to which the body is subject. Under normal conditions^ 
no excitement of this kind occurs until the body is fully 
matured, and the system has acquired its highest degree 
of strength and vigor. In childhood, the vital powers 
are wholly occupied with developing and building up the 
body. Any drain of this sort is consequently peculiarly 
harmful at this period of life. The natural processes of 
growth, though at first abnormally hastened in certain 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 383 

directions, are ultimately checked. The body never at- 
tains full development when this habit is begun at an 
early age, and indulged after sexual development. All 
the vital powers are weakened. 

Undoubtedly the indulgence of this vile practice 
affords an ample explanation for the great number of 
puny, scrawny, weak-backed, lank-limbed, hollow-eyed, 
pale, sallow-faced boys who may always be seen upon 
the streets of any city. But a small proportion of the 
young men of the present day possess one-half the 
vitality and stamina which properly belong to their age 
of life. Their vitality has been wasted and sapped by 
this monster of vice which has become so well-nigh uni- 
versal among the youth of civilized lands. 

Weakness of the back, feebleness of the muscles, 
loss of appetite, slow digestion or dyspepsia, nervous- 
ness, impairment of vision, loss of energy, — these are 
but a few of the physical consequences of this horrible 
practice. 

Long and frequent indulgence of this disgusting 
habit often brings on a general decline. The patient losee 
flesh, grows pale and weak, begins to cough, and 
almost before he is aware that danger is threatened, 
finds -himself a victim of that hopeless malady, con- 
sumption. We might mention a number of sacl instances 
in which we have seen young men whose physical in- 
heritance was good, go down to an early consumptive's 
grave, as the result of these hidden but potent causes. 
Fortunately, if the disease is discovered early enough, 
and an entire reform is made, the chances for the recov- 
ery of the patient are favorable ; but, unfortunately, the 
discovery is not usually made until too late; or when 



384 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

made, the patient's will and resolution have been weak- 
ened to such an extent that the habit still continues, at 
least at intervals, although frequent efforts may be made 
to escape from the thralldom of the horrible vice. 
Sometimes the patient reforms only to begin the practice 
again as soon as the symptoms of returning health re- 
move the prospect of a speedy death. 

Epilepsy. — This horrible disease, when occurring in 
boys or young men who have previously been healthy, 
is very frequently the result of this pernicious practice. 
Of all forms of nervous disease, none are more appalling 
in their aspect, and few more dreadful in ultimate re- 
sults, than this. The patient is liable to be seized any 
moment with a horrible convulsion, by which he will be 
thrown to the ground, while every muscle jerks and 
twitches as though under the influence of a powerful 
electrical current, while the face is distorted by the 
most frightful grimaces. Strange guttural sounds are 
produced in the throat, while froth and blood issue from 
the mouth. One of these dreadful fits may seize upon 
an individual while crossing a bridge or while standing 
upon some elevated place, from which he may be thrown 
down, and thus killed or maimed for life. A poor 
fellow who was under the author's care a few years ago, 
was thus thrown from a window in an upper story upon 
a stone pavement below, and sustained injuries which 
crippled him for life. Every limb was broken, and the 
body was horribly bruised in every part. 

The practice of self-abuse is particularly prone to 
produce epilepsy, as venereal excitement itself partakes 
very much of the character of an epileptic convulsion, 
the state of the nervous system at the moment of great- 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 385 

est excitement being almost identical with that during 
an epileptic fit, only in less degree. It is not strange, 
then, that such a powerful excitement, frequently re- 
peated, and particularly in immature individuals, should 
ultimately result in the production of this grave and 
sometimes incurable disorder. 

As to the curability of epilepsy from this cause, we 
are glad to be able to say that when due to excesses, if 
the cause is removed, the disease is, in the majority of 
instances, readily curable, though of course it can hardly 
be expected that an individual can be restored to that 
absolute perfection of health which might have existed 
if the injury to brain and nerves had never been in- 
flicted. 

Disease of the Heart. — A number of cases of disease 
of the heart have come under the author's care, which 
were attributable to these causes. The patients were 
young men suffering with what had been pronounced by 
some physicians, organic disease of the heart; but a 
careful physical examination failed to show the charac- 
teristic evidences of this disorder, and a search into the 
habits of these individuals revealed in each case the fact 
that this vice had been practiced, and on the discontinu- 
ance of the habit, together with the application of the 
proper measures of treatment, a good recovery was 
effected. 

Sexual Debility. — The victim of this practice pays the 
penalty for his excesses in ultimate loss of the power to 
continue his indulgence. By an immutable law of 
nature, we are ultimately deprived of any faculty which 
is grossly abused. So with the sexual function. Excesses 
in childhood or youth will certainly result in debility 

25 



386 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

and ultimate impotency, or total loss of sexual power, in 
advanced age. A long train of sexual disorders and 
diseases arises from these indulgences, which the limits 
of our space here do not allow us to present in detail, but 
which we shall consider elsewhere in this work. Pre- 
mature or excessive indulgence of any faculty results in 
its early impairment and extinction, and in no instance 
is this law of nature more rigorously enforced than in 
the case of the sexual function. 

Sexual Neurasthenia. — Neurasthenia, or general 
nervous debility, is one of the most prevalent of all 
nervous disorders. A peculiar form of the disease, which 
may be properly termed sexual neurasthenia, is one of 
the most conspicuous features of the results of masturba- 
tion. One of the curious features of this malady is the 
great number of symptoms to which it may give rise. 
The expression of the disease may be through almost 
any organ or system of organs in the body. In one 
case, the head symptoms seem to be most prominent. 
The patient consults a physician, who tells him he is 
suffering from hyperemia or anaemia of the brain, which 
means too much or too little blood in the brain. Another 
one attributes all of his symptoms to malaria. Still 
another talks about softening of the brain. Another 
suggests rheumatism; another, disease of the bladder; 
another, paralysis ; another, disease of the spine. Almost 
every physician will make a different diagnosis, and 
pursue a different line of treatment, often overlooking 
the real seat of the disease, and ascertaining nothing 
respecting its cause. Very frequently, a physician will 
tell a patient there is nothing at all the matter with him, 
being led to make this declaration by the fact that the 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 387 

symptoms are so varied and so mixed up that he cannot 
make a definite diagnosis. 

The suffering which a person may undergo when 
afflicted with this malady, is certainly such as no person 
in his right mind would bring upon himself; and these 
cases should he a warning to those who have not yet 
accomplished their utter ruin by addiction to this vice. 

Mental and Moral Effects. — The most conspicuous 
mental effects observed in the victims of this vice are 
confusion of thought and dullness of mind. The patient, 
if a student, complains that he cannot learn his lessons 
as readily as formerly. He cannot concentrate his mind 
so as to do efficient mental work. He will spend many 
hours in the effort to perform a task which formerly 
could be dispatched in a very short time. There seems 
to be a cloud upon the intellect which is sometimes lifted 
for a brief interval, but again settles down upon the poor 
victim's brain, and shuts out from him that mental clear- 
ness and acumen which he had formerly possessed. 

Another very constant mental symptom is loss of 
memory, especially of names and of recent events. The 
patient's mind has become so debilitated, his nerve tone 
so lowered, that the impressions made upon his brain 
are evanescent and very easily effaced, so that current 
events which come to his notice pass out of mind almost 
as quickly as observed. 

After a time, the judgment becomes seriously im- 
paired, and the individual is unfitted to bear the bur- 
dens and responsibilities of life. Fickleness of mind 
renders it impossible to maintain fixed ideas or opinions 
any great length of time. Even the sense of propriety 
is lost. The individual becomes erratic, often irritable, 



388 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

a burden to himself, and an annoyance to his friends, 
who, if not utterly estranged from him by his perversi- 
ties and strangeness of demeanor, apologetically regard 
him as a " crank." There are thousands of these poor 
creatures who stumble through life in the most unhappy 
manner possible, with intellect so impaired, with judg- 
ment so perverted, that they really live upon the very 
border-line which separates the sane from the insane, 
and which entitles them to the significant name coined 
for the purpose of designating them, by an eminent 
Eastern specialist, who terms this class of persons 
" border-liners." 

Insanity. — The victims of this vice crowd the in- 
sane asylums in every civilized land, and are the most 
hopeless, unhappy, degraded victims of this terrible 
malady. One of the curious features of these classes is 
that the patient, especially at the beginning of the dis- 
ease, is particularly exercised upon religious subjects. 
In a number of cases which have come under the profes- 
sional care of the author, this feature has been very 
marked. Perhaps we cannot do better in dealing with 
this part of our subject than to quote the following ex- 
cellent description of insanity, when produced by these 
causes, by Dr. Richy, an English author : — 

General Symptoms. — " On entering an asylum for 
the insane, especially if it be one receiving patients 
from the middle as well as from the lower class of so- 
ciety, there is one group of inmates which may arrest 
the attention of the visitor from the contrast presented 
to the excited persons around him on the one hand, and 
to those who are convalescent on the other. Engaged 
in no social diversion, the patients of this group live 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 389 

alone in the midst of many. In their exercise, they 
choose the quietest and most unfrequented parts of the 
airing-grounds. They join in no social- conversations, 
nor enter with others into any amusement. They walk 
alone or sit alone. If engaged in reading, they talk not 
to others of what they may read ; their desire appar- 
ently is, in the midst of numbers, to be in solitude. 
They seek no social joys, nor is the wish for fellowship 
evinced. 

" The pale complexion, the emaciated form, the 
slouching gait, the clammy palm, the glassy or leaden 
eye, and the averted gaze, indicate the lunatic victim to 
this vice. 

" Apathy, loss of memory, abeyance of concentrative 
power and manifestation of mind generally, combined 
with loss of self-reliance, and indisposition for or re- 
pulsiveness to action, irritability of temper, and incoher- 
ence of language, are the most characteristic mental 
phenomena of chronic dementia resulting from mastur- 
bation in young men. 

"As in diseases of an exhaustive nature, we find 
that the cutaneous secretion is poured forth abundantly, 
so in the cases occupying our attention, the perspiration 
breaks forth on the slightest exertion. This relaxed 
condition of the perspiratory system is especially marked 
in the palms, and the exception is to find these dry in 
the masturbator ; for, generally, a damp or cold, clammy 
perspiration is constantly present, and makes it particu- 
larly disagreeable to take the hand of one of these per- 
sons. The sub-integumentary layer is but sparingly 
supplied with fat, which is remarkable, considering the 
little exercise these patients, if left to their own guid- 
ance, would take. 



390 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

" To conclude this description, it is only necessary to 
add that the gait is slovenly or slouching, that the gaze 
is down-cast or averted, and when addressed, the mas- 
turbator does not look the speaker openly in the face 
whilst he replies, but looks to the ground or beyond the 
questioner." 

The ultimate result of disease from this cause is 
imbecility or idiocy. The mental powers gradually 
weaken, if the habit is continued, until the brain structure 
becomes so seriously impaired that the individual is 
reduced to the level of the brute. Almost the last ray 
of intelligence is extinguished, and indeed in some 
respects the victim of this mind-destroying vice in the 
last stages of his existence may become reduced even 
below the level of the brute creation. The patient be- 
comes a mere animal, who eats, sleeps, and breathes, but 
is utterly deprived of all human characteristics, with the 
exception of an outward semblance. He is conscious of 
neither joy nor grief, pleasure nor pain. He takes his 
food and drink mechanically. He sits staring vacantly 
into space, with an open, drooling mouth, and a senseless, 
idiotic smile upon his face. If not closely cared for by 
an attendant, he defiles himself with the evacuations of 
the bowels and bladder, and becomes filthy and unwhole- 
some beyond description. Most horrible indeed is the 
spectacle of a human being in ruins, brought down to 
this most unspeakable degradation by his own vile 
practices. 

A Victim's Picture of Himself. — Jean Jacques 
Rosseau, one of the most distinguished of French writers, 
but a victim of this most degrading of vices, wrote a 
confession to his son, and the following account of its 
consequences : — 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 391 

" One might say that my heart and my mind do not 
belong to the same person. My feelings, quicker than 
lightning, fill my soul ; but instead of illuminating, they 
burn and dazzle me. I feel everything: I see nothing. 
I am excited, but stupid ; I cannot think except in cold 
blood. The wonderful thing is that I have sound enough 
tact, penetration, eYenJlnesse, if people will wait for me. I 
make excellent impromptus at leisure; but at the 
moment, I have nothing ready to say or do. I should 
converse brilliantly by post, as they say the Spaniards 
play at chess. When I read of a Duke of Savoy who 
turned back after starting on his journey to say, 6 In 
your teeth, you Paris shopkeeper ! ' I said, ' That is 
like me ! ' 

"I find the same sluggishness of thinking, joined 
with the same vividness of feeling, not only in conversa- 
tion, but even while I work. My ideas arrange them- 
selves in my brain with incredible difficulty; they 
circulate there dully, fermenting so as to excite me, 
heat me, give me palpitations ; while in the midst of all 
this emotion, I see nothing clearly ; I could not write a 
single word — I must wait. Insensibly this great turmoil 
calms down, the chaos disentangles itself, each idea puts 
itself in its own place, but slowly and after long, confused 
agitation. Have you ever seen the opera in Italy? 
While the scenes are being changed, there is a disagree- 
able and prolonged disorder in these great theatres : all 
the decorations are mixed up ; you see pulling and 
hauling everywhere, which is positively annoying; 
everything seems on the point of tumbling down ; how- 
ever, little by little, all gets arranged ; nothing is want- 
ing, and the spectator is astonished at seeing an exquisite 



392 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

scene follow the long tumult. Almost the same pro- 
ceeding goes on in my brain when I want to write. 
Could I have waited, and rendered in all their beauty 
the images thus painted there, few authors would have 
surpassed me. 

" Hence arises the extreme difficulty I find in writ- 
ing. My MSS., scratched, blotted, mixed up, undeci- 
pherable, attest the labor they have cost me. There is 
not one of them I have not had to transcribe four or five 
times before sending it to press. I have never been 
able to do anything pen in hand, with a table and my 
paper before me. It is out walking among the rocks 
and woods ; at night in bed, while lying awake, that I 
write in my brain ; it may be imagined with what slow- 
ness, especially for a man absolutely without verbal 
memory, and who has never in all his life been able to 
learn six lines by heart. There are some of my 
sentences that I have turned and re-turned during five 
or six nights in my bed before they were in a state to 
be put on paper. Hence I succeed better in works that 
require labor, than in those which require a certain 
degree of readiness, like letters, — a kind of composition 
of which I have never been able to catch the proper 
tone, and the effort at which is misery to me. I never 
write a letter on the smallest subject that does not cost 
me hours of fatigue, or if I want to write at once what 
occurs to me, I can neither begin nor end ; my letter is 
a long or confused verbiage, hardly to be understood 
when read. 

" But not only is it a labor to me to express, but 
also to receive ideas. I have studied men, and I think 
I am a tolerably good observer ; yet I can see nothing 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 393 

of what I do see. I can hardly say that I see anything 
except what I recall. I have no power of mind but in 
my recollection. Of all that is said, of all that is done, 
of all that passes in my presence, I feel nothing, I 
appreciate nothing. The external sign is all that strikes 
me. But after awhile, it all comes back to me. I 
remember the place, the time, the tone, the gesture, the 
circumstance, — nothing escapes me. Then, from what 
has been done or said, I discover what was thought, and 
I am rarely deceived. 

" If I am so little master of my mind while alone, it 
may be conceived where I must be in conversation, 
where to speak a propos, one must think at the same 
time and at a moment's notice of a thousand things. 
The mere idea of so many proprieties, of which I am 
sure to forget at least one, is enough to intimidate 
me. I do not even understand how a person can dare 
to speak in company; for at each word one ought to 
pass in review every one that is present, to be acquainted 
with all their characters and know their histories, in 
order to be sure to say nothing that may offend any. 
Certainly, those who live in the world have a great ad- 
vantage here ; knowing better what not to say, they are 
surer of what they do say ; yet even from them slips 
many an unfortunate speech. Imagine the condition of 
a man who falls into it all from the clouds ; he can 
hardly talk with impunity for a minute. In tSte a tete 
there is another disagreeable, which I find worse. I 
mean the necessity of talking constantly ; if spoken to, 
you must answer, and if nothing is said, you must take 
up the conversation. This unendurable constraint alone 
would have disgusted me with society. I find no bur- 



394 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

den more intolerable than the obligation to speak at 
once and constantly. I do not know if this arises from 
my mortal aversion to all subjection; but it is quite 
enough to be obliged to speak to make me infallibly say 
something foolish. 

" What is more fatal is that, instead of knowing how 
to hold my tongue when I have nothing to say, it is just 
then that, to pay my debt as quickly as possible, I have 
a mania for talking. I try in a hurry to stammer, 
promptly, words without ideas, only too happy if they 
mean nothing at all. In trying to conquer or hide my 
inaptitude, I seldom fail to display it. 

"I believe this is the real explanation why, though 
I am not a fool, I have often passed for one, even with per- 
sons capable of judging ; all the more unhappy because 
my physiognomy and my eyes promise something better, 
and my failure makes my stupidity all the more shock- 
ing to others. This detail, which a particular instance 
has suggested, will not be useless to any one who fol- 
lows it. It contains the key of many extraordinary 
performances of mine, which have been attributed to an 
untamed humor which I do not possess. I should relish 
society as well as any one, if I were not sure to exhibit 
myself, I do not say only to disadvantage, but as some- 
thing quite different from what I am. The system I have 
adopted of retirement and writing, precisely suits me. 
No one would ever have known, from my presence, what 
I was worth ; no one would ever have suspected it." 

No more accurate description of the mental condition 
of these sufferers could be drawn than the above. We 
have seen scores of these cases who would indorse 
the description as being in many particulars applicable 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES 395 

to themselves. The reader will readily see in the man- 
ner in which this learned victim describes his case, in 
the horrible frankness with which he analyzes his char- 
acter, the strongest possible evidence of the influence of 
this terrible vice in destroying the finer sensibilities, 
that delicate sense of propriety, that high regard for pu- 
rity, which undepravecl human beings possess. 

The Remedy. — Prevention is greatly to be preferred 
to cure. Prevention saves suffering, shame, mortifica- 
tion, and despair. Cure too often means simply a mit- 
igation of ills, the major part of which must be borne. 
How many times has a poor victim of this vice said to 
us, with tears streaming from his eyes, and dark despair 
written upon every lineament of his face, " Oh, why was 
I not warned of the terrible suffering I must endure? 
Why was I not told of the horrible wickedness of this filthy 
vice ? " No tongue can describe the mental anguish, the 
despair, the shame of one of these victims, who, after 
years of transgression, is suddenly awakened to a real- 
ization of his folly, when he discovers the ruin he has 
wrought. Never to have been born would be far better 
than this living death. 

If the habit has been formed, how may the victim be 
rescued from its thralldom ? The great obstacle in the 
way of the recovery of these unhappy creatures is the 
fact that the individual's will is weakened ; his conscience 
is blunted ; his passions have grown with gratification 
until they have asserted complete mastery over mind 
and body. In addition to this, physical conditions have 
been established which, at a superficial glance, seem to 
justify the habit in a small degree, so clamorous are the 
demands for gratification. This, however, is but the 



396 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

result of the long continuance of the practice, and no 
more justifies it than the physical craving of the drunk- 
ard for his dram, and the immediate relief which follows 
the gratification of his appetite is a justification of his 
intemperance. 

The first thing to be done is to arouse, if possible, 
the patient's moral sensibilities. To accomplish this, it 
is proper to employ every sentiment possible. Moral 
obligation, love of purity, self-respect, pride, even fear, 
may all be appealed to for the purpose of arousing the 
person to such an effort as will result in his rescue. Too 
often the result is that the individual, though he may 
readily acquiesce in all that is said to him respecting the 
error of his ways, and may earnestly long to escape from 
the misery of his vice, has lost his power to resist temp- 
tation through the weakened state of the will and the 
constant yielding to desire. Temptation will come, and 
the poor fellow who an hour before solemnly pledged 
himself to abandon his vicious practices, and perhaps on 
his bended knees confessed his sins and prayed for 
Divine assistance, falls an easy prey to the tempter. 
No sooner is the act committed, than remorse, shame, 
despair, seize upon him, and plunge him into the very 
depths of wretchedness. Thus his life becomes a con- 
stant oscillation between resolve and failure, courage and 
despair. 

Happy indeed is the repenting victim of this debas- 
ing vice who has the good fortune to possess some true 
and faithful friend who will aid him in fortifying his 
resolutions, who will rally his courage when repeated 
failure plunges him into hopeless despair. 

Let him who will reform, resolve to succeed or die, 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 397 

and he may be sure that success will materially diminish 
the prospects of dissolution. Let him determine that 
no temptation, no subterfuge, no sophistry, shall again 
seduce him from the path of purity. 

The following suggestions we have often given to 
those who are engaged in this struggle for liberty, and 
when faithfully followed, the result has been success : — 

Mental Parity. — The mind rules the body. Every 
involuntary function is the result of mind action. The 
brain furnishes the impulse which sets in motion and 
maintains in action all the vital functions. The ancient 
proverb, " As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," is 
most emphatically verified by this class of transgressors ; 
hence the importance of maintaining purity of mind. 
The thoughts must be thoroughly cleansed from every 
hint or suggestion of uncleanness. The person who is 
impure in mind, will soon be impure in actions. The 
mind which is filled with filthy imaginations will be 
utterly unable to withstand the tornado of desires which 
his own mental debauchery will bring upon him. Let 
him resist the first suggestion of lascivious thought.' 
Let him shun mental uncleanness as he would the lep- 
rosy or a venomous serpent. Let him cultivate purity 
of mind, chastity of thought, and abhorrence of vileness 
and impurity. Thus will his resolution be strengthened, 
and his power of resistance fortified. Thus, too, will he 
succeed in repressing those physical incitements to sin 
which are the result of long yielding to the tempter. 

Mental Occupation. — The nursery rhyme which 
certainly involves a great truth, " Satan finds some mis- 
chief still for idle hands to do," might well be parodied, 
Satan finds some vileness still, the empty mind to fill. 



398 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

The unoccupied mind very readily becomes a prey to 
unclean thoughts, especially when the imagination has 
for a time been allowed to run riot in sensuality. Such 
a mind, when left unoccupied, runs into uncleanness as 
readily as a duck takes to water, or a frog to a slimy 
pool. Complete and constant mental occupation is the 
only safeguard. It is far easier to keep out unclean 
thoughts than to get them out when they have once 
occupied the mind. Keep the mind full of pure, whole- 
some, elevating thoughts, and there is no room for any- 
thing of a low, vulgar, or filthy nature. 

After long indulgence, the mind comes to dwell upon 
vile things involuntarily. The brain is so modified by 
habit that it runs readily into the channel of concupis- 
cence. By constant, persistent effort, this basis for 
unclean thought may be eradicated, and the mind re- 
stored, in a measure at least, to its original purity. By 
constant cultivation of pure thoughts, the mind learns to 
run naturally and easily in the channel of purity. 

But this result cannot be accomplished in a day, nor 
in a month. Sometimes years, even, are required to 
efface the scars and blemishes made upon the mind by 
years of indulgence in impurity. 

A Valuable Hint. — Young man, are you thoroughly 
in earnest about this matter? Do you thoroughly 
detest the sight and thought of uncleanness ? Are you 
thoroughly anxious to wash out from your brain the 
dirt and filth which years of wrong doing have deposited 
there ? In the midst of your struggle, do evil thoughts 
come into your brain, and take possession of you against 
your will? Do you earnestly long to free yourself 
from the shackles of mental sensuality ? Here is a sug- 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 399 

gestion for you : Write down upon a card half a dozen 
words which represent the purest and noblest thoughts 
and experiences of your whole life, such words as will 
call up some engrossing theme which will be certain to 
attract and hold the attention of the mind. Now, when 
an evil thought comes, either in mind or in act, bring 
out your card. Seize upon a word, and resolutely set 
your mind to work upon it. Do not give the tempter 
the slightest foot-hold. Grapple with him at the very 
threshold of your mind, and keep the mind occupied 
until the deceiver has passed by. 

Good Associations. — Among the greatest of helps to 
mental purity and chaste occupation of the mind are good 
and profitable associations. One who is trying to win 
himself from evil thoughts and evil ways should sedu- 
lously avoid those whose conduct or conversation incline 
in that direction. Let him seek the association of the 
good, the pure, the noble, those whose example it will 
be safe for him to emulate. Let him on no account 
allow himself, even on a single occasion, to associate 
with the vile, the obscene, the licentious, those whose 
influence will be calculated to lead him in a downward 
direction. 

Diet. — The influence of diet in stimulating the pas- 
sions, we have already mentioned. To a person strug- 
gling to repress evil desires, simplicity in diet and the 
avoidance of exciting and stimulating foods is of the 
greatest consequence. Such condiments as mustard, 
pepper, pepper-sauce, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce 
should be wholly discarded. Flesh food should be taken 
very sparingly. The diet should consist chiefly of 
fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk. Overeating should 



400 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

be carefully avoided, as it produces a plethoric condition 
of the portal circulation, causing congestion of the gen- 
itals, and fills the blood with crude and undigested 
materials which excite and irritate the passions through 
irritating the nerve centers. Starvation is one of the 
very best means of combating lust, and the man who 
finds himself well-nigh overwhelmed by temptation, 
whose passions have so long had the ascendency that he 
has become an abject slave, without will-power or resist- 
ance, should consider whether he cannot better, for a 
brief period, reduce his bill of fare to the very lowest 
point above starvation, and conquer, rather than suffer 
defeat in his conflict with the beast that rules him. 

Ices, confectionery, and pastries of all kinds should 
be sedulously avoided. If alcoholic drinks of any sort 
or tobacco in any form have been indulged, they must be 
wholly abandoned. We say wholly, because we have 
sometimes known persons to imagine that partial absti- 
nence would answer equally well. But this is not the 
case. When stimulants or narcotics of any sort have 
been indulged, the continuance of their use, even in 
small quantities, continues the mischief by keeping alive 
the old flame, and preventing that utter extinction of the 
depraved appetite which only occurs when the last atom 
of the poison is eliminated from the body, and the tissues 
have returned to their normal condition. Even tea and 
coffee, at least if taken strong or in any considerable 
quantity, exercise an undoubted influence in the same 
direction as other narcotics and stimulants, though in a 
less degree. Better discard them altogether, and sub- 
stitute hot water, or better still, hot milk. 

Exercise. — Proper exercise is all-important for one 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 401 

engaged in the struggle to suppress the passions. Mus- 
cular work draws the blood away from the excited nerve 
centers, calms the passions, and inclines -the individual 
to repose and rest rather than to indulgence in vice. By 
exercise, we do not mean a few minutes' swinging of 
Indian clubs or playing with dumb-bells, or five minutes' 
exercise on a lifting machine, or a leisurely stroll along 
Broadway, or an occasional excursion into the country, 
or now and then a day's hunting or fishing ; we mean 
actual work, hard muscular exercise taken daily to the 
amount of real fatigue. For information respecting how 
exercise should be taken and the proper amount to be 
taken in a single day, the reader is referred to the 
chapter in this work devoted to that subject. 

Sleep. — While too much sleep undoubtedly conduces 
to habits of luxury and stimulation of the passions, a 
proper amount of sleep has the opposite effect of quieting 
the exhausted and irritable nerve centers, and securing 
that condition of health which is best conducive to 
strength of mind and will, as well as of body. Gro early 
to rest, and rise early in the morning. Avoid dozing 
after waking up in the morning. A second nap is rarely 
beneficial, but is often harmful, and the condition of half 
sleep and half wakefulness into which a person is likely 
to drop after waking from sound sleep, is one in which 
the mind is likely to run riot in forbidden channels. 

Let us say one word about day-dreaming, a practice 
into which unoccupied young people are very apt to 
fall. We consider it to be in the highest degree perni- 
cious. These listless reveries are apt to be prurient and 
sensual in the extreme ; and for one who is strug- 
gling against impurity of thought and life, they are 

26 



402 MA&, THE MASTERPIECE. 



positively dangerous. The mind is in a peculiarly re- 
ceptive state ; the will is dormant ; evil finds a ready 
foot-hold, and speedily develops into all degrees of filth- 
iness. If tempted to drop into one of these stupid 
moods, arouse instantly your latent energies, and en- 
gage in some kind of physical or mental activity that 
will effectually dissipate the unprofitable inclination. 

Daily Bathing. — The practice of daily bathing is in 
the highest degree conducive to both physical and men- 
tal purity. Immediately on rising in the morning, take 
a sponge or towel bath, occupying one or two minutes, 
and rub dry with a coarse towel. The vigorous glow of the 
skin which follows a cool bath taken in this way has a 
most happy effect upon the body and mind. Tepid 
water may be used at first if the person has been unac- 
customed to bathing, but should be gradually lowered in 
temperature until quite a cool bath may be thoroughly 
enjoyed. Positively cold water should never be used, 
to obtain the very best effects, and for a person in 
delicate health and with little power of " reaction," cold 
water is often very harmful. 

Care of the Bowels. — A constipated condition of the 
bowels produces congestion of the genitals and an un- 
natural excitability, which may react upon the mind in 
such a way as to produce a powerful incitement to vice ; 
therefore the bowels should be kept regular by the em- 
ployment of such means as maybe required. The large 
use of fruit in diet ; the employment of coarse grain 
preparations, such as cracked wheat, oatmeal, etc.; the 
use of graham instead of fine flour bread, — all these 
things conduce to a proper regularity of the bowels. 
The bowels should move every day soon after breakfast. 



SEXUAL SINS AXD THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 403 

If movement cannot be obtained in any other way, an 
enema should be taken, although the use of the enema 
as a habit should be avoided. When a great amount of 
irritability exists, a cool enema will be found to have a 
remarkably efficient effect in quieting the abnormal ex- 
citement. Hemorrhoids, or piles, rectal irritation, and 
especially intestinal worms, act reflexly upon the genital 
organs, producing abnormal excitement, and when pres- 
ent, should receive such attention as will secure their re- 
moval. 

Phimosis. — As previously remarked, a tight or long 
prepuce may produce abnormal irritability of the parts 
by retaining the natural secretions, or producing an 
abnormal amount of secretion. This cause alone has 
undoubtedly often led to the practice of self-abuse, and, 
if present, would add greatly to the difficulty of over- 
coming the vice. Such a condition requires a surgical 
operation, which should be performed by a competent 
surgeon. 

The most scrupulous attention should be given to 
local cleanliness, and careful avoidance of any physical 
or mental cause of excitement or irritation. 

Religion. — We must not fail to remind the reader 
that the most potent of all aids, to one who is really 
penitent for past sins, and is thoroughly in earnest in 
the effort of reform, is to be found in the helps afforded 
by genuine religion. Prayer offers a ready means by 
which the weak victim of evil habits may reinforce his 
wavering resolutions, and scatter from his mind the evil 
images which allure him to sin. The Divine aid thus 
obtainable may make the weakest strong, and may en- 
able the most helpless and despairing wretch to rise 



404 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

triumphant over his besetting sin. No one, however 
firm in purpose, and however strong in will, can well 
afford to neglect this never failing means of grace and 
strength. 

To Cure the Practice in Children.— When the par- 
ents of a boy discover that he is addicted to the practice, 
they should bring to bear upon him the strongest moral 
suasion possible, and should watch him closely. If not 
successful by these means, they should, if necessary, ad- 
minister proper punishments. If still unsuccessful, 
means should be taken to render the practice impossible. 
In many cases in which the tight or long prepuce re- 
quires an operation, this may be sufficient to interrupt 
the practice. In young children, especially, the practice, 
if interrupted for a few weeks, may be broken. The ap- 
plication of a blister, so as to render the parts tender 
and sensitive, is a method applicable to some cases. A 
method which is wholly successful, though productive of 
some pain, is the following : — 

Draw the prepuce down beyond the glans, passing a 
silver wire through the skin on either side, and twist the 
ends together in such a way as to draw the two sides of 
the prepuce so close together that it cannot be drawn 
back from the glans. This, in exceptional cases in which 
the prepuce is unusually long, will effectually prevent 
erection, and consequently interrupt the habit. This 
method, for which we are indebted to Dr. Archibald, 
Superintendent of the Iowa Asylum for Feeble Minded 
Children, we have employed in a number of cases with 
entire success. The pain produced by it is not great, 
and is in most cases an advantage rather than an objec- 
tion, as it has a decided tendency to diminish the desire 
to continue the practice. 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 405 



SOCISL YICE, 

Illicit intercourse of the sexes is certainly entitled to 
the second place in the list of sexual sins which we are 
considering in this chapter. The evils which arise from 
the social vice are not only numerous, but appalling in 
character, whether they are considered from a physical 
or a moral standpoint. Among the ancient Greeks, the 
practice of this vice was practically ignored, and courte- 
sans were even held in high social esteem, sometimes at- 
taining to positions of honor in the State. Their posi- 
tion was really in some respects above that of honest 
women ; and they were in no way regarded as worthy 
of reproach or dishonor. During the Middle Ages, gross 
immoralities prevailed among all classes, not excluding 
the celibate clergy. A large share of the convents were 
little better than brothels. Courtiers and kings joined 
hand to hand in voluptuousness, and even popes scandal- 
ized the religious world by the number of their illegit- 
imate children. 

At the present day, crimes of this character are less 
openly committed, perhaps, than during any previous 
time in the world's history ; but that there is really a 
less degree of vice of this sort is a question which might 
bear considerable investigation. From what opportuni- 
ties we have had for investigating this subject, which 
have not been few, we are inclined to think that the 
principles of purity and chastity are less regarded at the 
present day than a generation ago, although perhaps the 
state of things in this regard may not be so bad as has 
sometimes existed in ancient times in various parts of 



406 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the old world, or even in periods not far remote from the 
present. 

While traveling in Europe a few years ago, we took 
some pains to make inquiries of reliable persons as to 
the state of public morals, and were satisfied that in 
many of the larger cities, at least, virtue is less highly 
prized, and vice is looked upon with less abhorrence, 
than it was a generation ago. 

Causes of Decline of Purity. — If we inquire for the 
cause of this decline of purity in morals, we shall find it 
to be varied. First, and most important of all, we would 
suggest that the increase of vice must be clue to the gen- 
eral lowering of moral tone among the people, and par- 
ticularly among the members of the rising generation. 
It must be evident to every observing man or woman 
that conscientiousness, love of truth, righteousness, spir- 
ituality, and in short, all religious principles, have a less 
active influence upon the lives of the youth of the pres- 
ent day than upon those of their predecessors. The 
growing prevalence of skepticism, propagated by profane 
scoffers of the Ingersoll type, and encouraged by a cer- 
tain class of scientists who array their notions' respect- 
ing the teachings of nature against the Bible and relig- 
ion, have a marked tendency to weaken the general re- 
ligious faith of the people, and lessen the influence of 
moral precepts upon human conduct. 

The familiarity with vice in its grossest forms, which 
arises from the freedom with which the newspapers of 
the day deal with crimes of this sort, with little or no 
attempt at delicacy of expression, and usually dwelling 
with unnecessary particularity upon the details of the 
crime, has a decided tendency in this direction. Pruri- 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 40T 

ent novels and other sensational literature, whose name 
is legion, are also justly chargeable with a large share of 
the retrograde which has taken place in- this direction. 

One of the most conspicuous examples of this low- 
ered moral tone as relates to matters pertaining to the 
relations of the sexes, is to be seen in the loss of that 
modest reserve in their deportment toward each other 
which characterized the boys and girls and young men 
and women of a generation ago. It has become fashion- 
able for young ladies to appear bold and "pert" in their 
manner toward young men, and the latter are certainly 
not the least behind the other sex in lack of modesty 
and reserve in their behavior. When it is remembered 
that modesty and proper reserve in manner are among 
the most effective safeguards of virtue, it will be readily 
seen that the marked declension in manners, which is so 
apparent in this particular, points very strongly indeed 
to a corresponding declension in morals. 

Too Great Familiarity of the Sexes. — The excess- 
ive familiarity of the young of both sexes in social 
intercourse, tends in a most decided manner to break 
down the barriers against impurity, and to prepare the 
way for the most flagrant violations of purity and 
chastity. The unrestrained liberty which parents allow 
their sons and daughters who have not yet attained 
years of maturity and discretion, the opportunities 
afforded by theatres, balls, fashionable parties, etc., and 
the other vice-favoring conditions of modern fashionable 
society, operate as efficiently in the corruption of morals 
as though the organizers of modern society had purposely 
arranged for the accomplishment of that very destruction 
of virtue and morality which we see so evidently taking 
place all around us at the present day. 



408 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Evil Courting Customs. — The unlimited freedom 
allowed the young during real or pretended courtship is 
certainly not conducive to improvement in the direction 
of social morality. We are guilty of no exaggeration 
when we say that we have met scores of young persons 
who have gone astray from the path of virtue, and who 
acknowledged to us that the familiarities allowed when 
" keeping company," constituted the first step taken in the 
road which ultimately led to the commission of the 
grossest sins. Fathers and mothers who wish to pre- 
serve the purity of their sons and daughters, should 
make a vigorous protest against the growing looseness 
of manners and unrestrained freedom of social intercourse 
among the sexes, whether carried on under the guise 
of courtship, or without the pretense of this flimsy 
excuse. 

There was a time in the history of the world when a 
young man who had committed a gross crime against virtue 
was considered unfit to live, and was taken without the 
city, and pelted to death with stones. At the present 
time, a young man who is known to be a rake, a debauchee, 
and a seducer of women and girls, is made welcome to 
the highest circles of society, and often receives as much 
or even greater attention from fashionable young wo- 
men, and older women too, than those whose lives are 
spotless. The fact that a rake is always popular among 
women, even those who are not themselves guilty of 
overt grossness, is a reproach upon the judgment and 
moral sense of those women concerning whom the charge 
is true, but is no excuse whatever for the young man. 

Nothing could be more fatal to purity of life among 
the young of either sex than the popular idea that the 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 409 

young man may sow his "wild oats," and still be a 
" first-rate good fellow," and worthy of positions of trust 
and responsibility in society ; and the fact that such a 
notion prevails, is further evidence of the lowered moral 
tone of society to which we have already referred. It 
will be a happy day to the cause of morality when 
society says to the young man who lapses from virtue, 
as it does to a young woman under the same circum- 
stances, "You have forfeited your right to honor and 
respect. You have violated one of the plainest laws of 
God and man. You have become a social leper, and are 
likely to spread vile moral contagion more potent for 
evil than the virus of a rattlesnake, or the contagious 
virus of small-pox or cholera. Hence, unless you repent 
and reform, and earn a right to the confidence of the 
good and the pure, you must be an outcast from society, 
subjected to a social quarantine which will effectively 
prevent the contamination of your fellows." 

Let young ladies demand of young men who wish to 
become their husbands the same unblemished purity 
which is required of them, and we may hope for an 
improvement, at least, in the manners and morals of the 
youth of the rising generation. 

Precocious sensuality, the customs, manners, and in 
fact most of the conditions of life in civilized society, 
tend to a premature development of the sexual instincts. 
Little boys and girls are taught to ape their elders in 
showing each other attentions which are only appropri- 
ate, when proper at all, in those of older years. Little 
boys, in their associations with those who are their 
superiors in years, have their minds filled with every 
sort of filthiness, and are early instructed in the vile, 



410 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

sensual trash which passes from one lad to another on 
the street. By this means, the boy's repugnance for 
grossness and impurity is speedily overcome, and he is 
soon ready to embrace the first opportunity to gratify his 
precocious passions and his prurient curiosity. 

Parents are often greatly blamable for carelessness 
in regard to the sleeping arrangements of their children. 
Little boys and girls are often allowed to sleep together 
until they have reached an age far beyond that at which 
their purity might be endangered by so doing, and in a 
number of cases we have traced the beginning of a life 
of sin to this cause. Barriers against impurity and vice 
cannot be placed about the little boy at too early an age. 
From almost the beginning of his existence, the evil 
demon of lust stands ready, watchfully waiting to improve 
the first opportunity to claim him as a victim. 

Among other causes, we might enumerate all those to 
which attention has already been called that predispose 
to the habit of self-abuse, but we need not recapitulate. 
Let us now consider — 

The Results of Social Vice. — Only an educated and 
experienced physician can appreciate in any adequate 
degree the horrible consequences to body as well as 
mind and soul which follow in the wake of social immor- 
ality. Upon this vice are founded the more than twenty 
thousand brothels which exist in this land of Christian 
civilization and enlightenment. In these anterooms of 
hell are to be found more than one hundred thousand 
depraved and abandoned women, who have offered up 
their souls and bodies upon the shrine of concupiscence. 
They have abandoned home, kindred, friends, — all that 
is most sweet and dear in life, all that is pure and noble 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 41 1 

and good, all that is human and tender and true, and 
have offered themselves upon the altar of lust, human 
chattels to minister to man's beastliness, to gratify 
unhallowed passions which " war against the soul ; " 
which sap the life blood of all human feelings and senti- 
ments; which, unrestrained and ungoverned, would speed- 
ily convert the whole earth into one vast Sodom and 
Gomorrah ; which brooks no restraint, and is as merciless 
and insatiable as the Minotaur of ancient fable. It places 
the cup of nectar to its victim's lips, only for the purpose 
of hiding the deadly venom which its sweetness covers. 

One hundred thousand poor, wretched women thus 
become outcasts from society, despised by their sex, 
looked upon as more debased than the swine that wallows 
in the mire, or the loathsome reptile that haunts the 
slimy pool, abandoning all hope of this world or the 
next, consigning their souls to eternal infamy, and con- 
demning their bodies to a life of shame and misery and 
a death too horrible to contemplate, — all this to gratify 
a million beastly men, a large proportion of whom must 
also share the fearful end to which their consorts are 
hastening. 

Many young men imagine that they can sow a few 
wild oats, — in other words, can lead for a few months or 
years a life of immorality, — and then reform, " turn over 
a new leaf," as they say, and settle down to a sober, 
steady, and virtuous life. Young man, do not be deceived 
by such sophistry. While it is possible for a few to 
seem to accomplish this, if you could have marshaled 
before you the great hosts of those who have undertaken 
to act upon this plan, and failed, you would be dismayed 
with fear at the thought of such an undertaking. A man 



412 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

who has once allowed himself to become entangled in 
the toils of sensuality, will find escape a task by no 
means easy, t A thousand influences deter him from the 
reformation which he contemplated ; a thousand obstacles 
appear in the way, none of which have previously entered 
into his calculations ; and if he is so fortunate as to 
break away from the bonds of evil associations, and 
shake himself free from the shackles of sensual habits 
long fostered, his difficulties are by no means mastered. 
Although he may settle down to a sober life, the old pas- 
sions, the old customs, the old illicit pleasures, haunt him, 
and allure him like the voices of sirens wooing him to 
destruction. In his waking thoughts, and in the dreams 
of his sleep, the passions which have been long encour- 
aged, stimulated, and gratified without stint, clamor for 
indulgence, and goad him almost to desperation. What 
would not such a man give to blot out from his memory 
the imperfections which have been indelibly fixed upon 
it, the sins in which he has been an active participant in 
haunts of vice and shame ? What would he not give to 
rid himself of the filthy imagery with which his wander- 
ings from the path of virtue have filled his brain ? 

Another thought for the candid consideration of you 
young men who imagine that you can sow a few wild 
oats, and be as good as anybody : To a man who has 
allowed the beast of passion to grow up within his heart 
and rule him, who has plunged headlong into the sea of 
sensuous indulgence, to such an one, common pleasures, 
the legitimate joys of life, are unspeakably tame and 
insipid. Fill your mouth with honey. Now taste an 
orange or a luscious pear. Before the honey you would 
have called it sweet, delicious ; now you say the fruit is 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 413 

tasteless, mawkish. So it is with our mental and moral 
tastes. The man who has spent the best years of his 
life in sensual pleasures, cannot appreciate the quiet, 
unexciting joys of legitimate love and domestic life. 
The field of his heart, once covered with golden grain, 
has been burned over by the fires of lust, which have left 
it blackened and seared and scarred and blistered, and as 
incapable of tender sensibilities and pure sentiments and 
emotions, as a charred stump. The harvest is past. 

We do not wish by these remarks to discourage those 
who earnestly long to redeem themselves from a life of 
sensuality, from making earnest effort to reform. Doubt- 
less those who have descended to the lowest depths may 
recover themselves to a great degree. Fortunately, 
there are many whose characters have not been wholly 
debased, who have not entirely abandoned themselves to 
vice, but have perhaps been rather the victims of adverse 
circumstances, than of a contempt for purity and devotion 
to vice ; to all such we would earnestly say, Manfully 
struggle for victory before your shipwreck is complete. 
By a life of penitence and earnest devotion to the work 
of reforming your deformed and tainted character, you 
may hope, in part at least, to atone for your transgres- 
sions, and in some measure reinstate your character. 

MEEITEL EXCESSES, 

Quite a large proportion of sexual disorders in mar- 
ried men, and certainly a great share of the maladies 
peculiar to the sex occurring in married women, may be 
justly chargeable to excess in sexual indulgence. The 
prevalent notion that the marriage ceremony opens the 



414 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

door for unlimited gratification of the passions, is a grave 
and mischievous error, which has led to much suffering 
and unhappiness, and has possibly laid the foundation 
for a large part of the domestic infelicity which has 
ultimated in estrangement of husband and wife, and per- 
haps in divorce. 

It ought to be more generally known that the ex- 
cesses committed under cover of marriage are among the 
most potent causes of disease in civilized communities. 
At the very outset of married life, loose rein is often 
given to the passions, and the habit of excess is formed, 
sometimes being continued for years. Frequently, men 
have acknowledged to the writer, in the confessional of 
the examining room, that during their entire married 
life, covering a period of many years, they had indulged 
daily, and sometimes more frequently. Is it to be won- 
dered at that these men found themselves becoming in- 
firm and old at the age of forty or forty-five, when they 
should have been in the prime of life ? that they 
should complain of mental or physical weakness, and of 
a general decline of the vital powers ? And yet the 
real cause is rarely suspected. The decline in health is 
attributed to overwork, confinement, unfavorable climate, 
or some other cause equally foreign to the real one. 

A very curious feature of these cases is the extreme 
anxiety for the complete restoration of the sexual 
powers so as to permit of their continued exercise. 
Some time ago, one of these patients presented himself for 
examination and treatment, who was more than sixty 
years of age, and yet he was chiefly anxious for re- 
covery to enable him to return to his sexual pleasures. 
His attention was invited to the fact that he had reached 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 415 

an age when the sexual functions should cease to be ex- 
ercised, and that nature had mercifully taken away from 
him the power to continue his excesses so as to give him 
an opportunity to live a few years longer. Yet his 
anxiety to return to his follies did not diminish. 

We are convinced, from extensive observations, that 
quite a proportion of the nervous break-downs in men 
which are attributed to overwork, cases of so-called soft- 
ening of the brain, etc., are due to marital excesses. A 
few months of absence from home, traveling among di- 
verting scenes, with abstinence from venereal indulgence, 
generally effects a rapid cure in these cases, unless the 
organs have been so weakened by excess that the same 
exhausting drain continues in the form of involuntary 
seminal losses, as is very likely to be the case, espe- 
cially in persons of a nervous temperament and feeble 
constitution. 

The Sexual Function not Essential for Health. — 
The popular notion which prevails among men, and 
which is encouraged by the opinion of some physicians, 
viz., that sexual indulgence is a physiological necessity, 
is certainly erroneous. Physicians are very apt to im- 
bibe many of the medical theories current among the 
people, especially if they possess any degree of plausi- 
bility, and we believe that those members of the pro- 
fession who indorse the popular view on this subject, 
have obtained their ideas in the manner suggested. 
Certain it is that there is no authority to be found for it, 
either in human physiology or in the analogies of animal 
physiology. Indeed, so far as we can learn anything 
from the study of lower animals, the conclusion is 
irresistible that the sexual function is necessary only for 



416 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the propagation of the species, and not for the main- 
tenance of the health of the individual. The capon, a 
castrated cock, attains greater and more rapid develop- 
ment than the ordinary male fowl of the same species. 
The ox and the horse are familiar examples of cas- 
trated males which are in no wise injured physically 
by the sexual mutilation which they suffer at the hands 
of the veterinary surgeon. 

The long lives and vast labors of many celibate 
monks, afford ample testimony of the possibility of the 
enjoyment of high health by a human male without the 
exercise of the sexual functions. To this testimony is 
added the cases of such men as Newton and other 
bachelor scientists who have lived long and highly useful 
lives, though wholly continent, so far as the sexual func- 
tions were concerned. 

The truth is, these organs remain in a state of in- 
activity, and exert little influence upon the other organs 
of the body until they are roused to dominance over 
the other vital functions by means of the stimulus of 
erotic thoughts. In a man whose mind is whollv free 
from sexual thoughts, there can be no physiological de- 
mand for sexual exercise, and there can be no suffering 
or injury of any sort as the result of abstinence. 

In persons whose sexual organs have been unduly 
excited by lewd thoughts and by frequent gratification, 
there is formed a sort of habit, which demands exercise 
of the sexual organs at the accustomed periods ; and if 
the opportunity is not afforded, unquestionably a certain 
degree of suffering ensues. Nevertheless, it should be 
distinctly understood by all persons who experience a 
. demand of this sort, that the condition is an abnormal 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 417 

one, and that it is to be relieved by repression of the 
cause, and not by gratification of the abnormal appetite. 
When such a condition exists, it may be successfully 
antagonized, as has been shown elsewhere in this work, 
by abstemiousness in diet, by exercise, and especially 
by mental continence and self-control. 

Abnormal Sexual Appetite. — All men ought to 
understand that the excessive demands made by the 
sexual appetite in the average man among civilized peo- 
ple, is due to an abnormal activity and irritability of the 
sexual organs. The conditions of life in civilized com- 
munities directly stimulate the sexual functions to undue 
prominence in the vital economy. The active muscular 
life of the savage, in the open air, surrounded by nature 
in her most chaste and unemotional aspect, is far less a 
sensualist than the pampered and overfed child of 
civilization, who goads his appetite with conserves and 
condiments, and inflames his passions by stimulating 
foods and drinks, by the perusal of prurient literature, 
erotic poems and scandal-laden prose, and by witnessing 
at theatres and operas the graphic portrayal of sexual 
depravity in almost every phase, tinseled over with the 
gloss of art, but none the less potent in arousing to the 
highest pitch, passions which need to be repressed and 
calmed. The man who is most likely to manifest abnor- 
mal sexual appetites, is not the hard-fisted son of toil, 
whose nerves and muscles vibrate with the thrill of 
health ; but the frail, nervous, intellectual man, whose 
emotional sensitiveness renders him an easy prey to 
temptation in the direction of sensuality, no matter how 
foreign to his education and his moral instincts such a 
course may be, and whose lowered tone of physical and 

27 



418 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

mental health weakens his will-power and self-control, 
and thus lessens his power of resistance to evil of any 
sort. The man of intellect and culture is not less sensual 
than the navvy because he is less tempted, but because 
his power of resistance is greater, and because he is 
surrounded by greater social safeguards. 

This fact explains why the social world is now and 
then startled by the lapse from virtue of some man 
distinguished for learning or piety, and one upon whom 
the world is accustomed to look as being of all men most 
free from grossness and sensuality. Some great tempta- 
tion, or some weakening of the will by loss of bodily 
health, has made the individual a victim to vices which 
he abhorred, and which he might have kept at bay had 
not the force of circumstances been against him. Persons 
of a nervous temperament are far more seriously injured 
by sexual excess than those of an opposite temperament. 

The Physiological Rule. — The question will be 
asked, What rule may be followed which will insure 
against excess ? Upon this subject, medical authorities 
do not agree ; but certain physiological facts sustain the 
view that the only natural rule respecting the congress of 
the sexes is that the act shall occur only when reproduc- 
tion is possible and desirable. A study of the lower 
animals reveals the fact that, in many species, reproduc- 
tion occurs only at stated seasons ; and it is noticeable 
that it is only at these times that the sexual act occurs. 
For example, among horses and the bovine race, the 
female will not allow the approaches of the male except 
when in heat, or when impregnation is likely to take 
place. The same is true with sheep. In many fowls, 
the testicles of the male diminish in size, and secrete no 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 419 

spermatozoa through the winter months, during which 
time no congress of the sexes occurs. 

Among lower animals, the sexual desires of the 
female, which appear to govern the action of the male, 
appear only after ovulation, familiarly known in some 
animals as the " rutting reason." In the human female, 
the conclusion of the menstrual period is marked by a 
similar experience, which would seem to point to a 
similar law existing in the human species, and which 
would confine the act to this period, which is also the 
one most likely to secure fruitful results. This would 
limit the indulgence of the sexual act to the number of 
lunar months in the year. 

This doctrine will undoubtedly be too hard for those 
who have indulged the passions without stint, and who 
have been accustomed to regard as legitimate any amount 
of indulgence within the pale of wedlock ; but we offer 
it with the firm conviction that it has the support of 
science, and will well bear the test of critical investiga- 
tion. 

Love, not Sensuality. — Men should divest them- 
selves of the idea that love and sensuality are in any 
sense identical. The purest love is that which descends 
not to the lower plane of sensuous gratification. Lust 
buries love ; the flame of carnal passion scorches and 
consumes the tender, Heaven-reared plantlet — pure, un- 
selfish love. Connubial happiness may be perfect with- 
out the passionate embrace. Its purest pleasures may 
be thoroughly enjoyed without those grosser excite- 
ments which, while necessary for the perpetuation of the 
race, are not essential either for the health or the happi- 
ness of the individual. Happy indeed is the man who 



420 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

has so disciplined his mind and so trained his body that 
he is able to hold within natural and physiological bounds 
the promptings of his lower nature, and may at will 
suppress them altogether. 

The writer is well enough aware that this work will 
be read by those who will ridicule the ideas here ad- 
vanced, and seek to cast them aside as a product of 
ultra asceticism, which would deny all human pleasures, 
and require man to abjure all but the bare necessities of 
life ; but he is assured that the experiences of which he 
has been made the confidant by hundreds of intelligent 
men and women, justify him in the belief that many will 
find in these paragraphs an expression of their own 
sentiments, and a justification of their purest aspirations. 
Certainly, there are thousands of suffering women whose 
lives are made wretched by the demands of their gross 
husbands, and who long for deliverance from a bond- 
age which is often worse than death, and will gladly 
welcome a doctrine which would teach their husbands 
self-control, and which insists that the bonds of wedlock, 
whatever legal control they may give a husband over a 
wife, do not give him the moral right to use her as a 
means of mere animal gratification without her full con- 
currence. We may even go so far as to say that from a 
physiological as well as from a moral standpoint, a sexual 
congress in which the wife is an unwilling and passive 
participant, is no better than the act of masturbation. 
Indeed, as two are injured instead of one, it may be 
worse. This is a strong doctrine, but what can be said 
to refute it ? The selfishness of men will induce most 
of them to scout it; but the great mass of intelligent 
women, whose intuitions are less perverted, as with them 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 421 

the sexual is subordinated to the maternal instinct, will 
receive it as a pure gospel, and long for its acceptance 
hy those whom they love in spite of the gross and 
unlawful demands made upon them. 

Quite extensive observation has convinced the writer 
that sexual excesses lay the foundation for a great share 
of the domestic infelicities which come to the notice of 
the public through the channel of the courts in divorce 
cases, and through the social scandals so industriously 
garnered by the newspapers. Banish lust from the 
marriage relation, and subject the passions to the severe 
rule of reason and physiological law, and half the trials 
of the married state will disappear at once. Men and 
women will be purer, better, and happier ; children will 
be more loved, better bred, and better reared ; and the 
family institution will rise to a higher plane. 

When we consider the way in which children are 
conceived, thoughtlessly, heedlessly, and with mere ani- 
mal gratification as the leading instinct, is it any marvel 
that so many show early in life, almost in infancy, the 
erotic tendency, which has been implanted in them ; and 
is it any wonder that the sons and daughters of parents 
whose passions have been unrestrained and have grown 
by gratification, should possess an " easy virtue," which 
only requires favorable circumstances to display its 
weakness. Unquestionably, the "libidinous blood" is 
as certainly transmitted by parents who in the marriage 
relation indulge in sexual excess, as by those who have 
indulged their passions in an illicit manner. 

Excess in Early Marriage. — With the newly mar- 
ried, excess is undoubtedly the rule, and most unhappy 
are the consequences in many instances. Not only is 



422 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the sacred rite of marriage desecrated, but often true love 
is extinguished, and a mutual repugnance springs up. 
which sows at the very threshold of the married life 
the seeds of domestic infelicity and ultimate estrange- 
ment and divorce, or something worse. 

Sometimes the unrestrained passions of the young 
husband permit him to inflict upon the one whom he has 
pledged himself to cherish and protect, grave physical 
injuries from which years of skillful treatment may not 
recover her. Not a few examples of such beastly 
brutality have come under the observation of the 
author. Young women who came to the altar blooming 
brides, enjoying hale health, free from disease, have re- 
turned from their short honey-moon pale, feeble shadows 
of their former selves, prepared for a life of suffering in- 
validism or an early decline. 

Why does not society revolt at such outrages 
against human rights, against morality and decency? 
Why does not woman assert herself, and refuse to be a 
mere toy, a slave to man's propensities ? Unfortunately, 
the average woman who enters marriage, has but the 
faintest notion of what she is to encounter. The 
average mother considers it her duty to allow her 
daughter to grow up in utter ignorance of herself, her 
functions, and her rights, and takes pride in her igno- 
rance. Tradition has spread a mystic veil over the 
whole subject of sexuality and procreation, and the 
mystery is only torn away when perhaps irreparable 
mischief has been done, or when the discovery is too late 
to be of any use. 

Young man, are you about to enter the holy state of 
marriage ? Let me counsel you. Weigh first your 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 423 

motives. Are they pure or gross ? Does love, pure 
and undefiled, reign in your heart, or sordid lust ? Have 
you so complete a mastery of y ours elf - that you can de- 
port yourself like a man, or are your passions so domi- 
nant that they will drive you to behave yourself like a 
beast? If not sure of yourself, wait. Put yourself 
under discipline. If the beast is strong, you must fight 
the harder. Weary him down with hard, muscular 
work. Starve him out by abstemiousness. Crush 
him with an iron will and an inflexible purpose. Give 
him no quarter until he succumbs. Then you are safe, 
but you must watch. Keep the mind high up. Keep 
the spirit dominant. As Paul said, " Keep the body 
under." Enter thus the marriage state, and with a wife 
who is. your equal, intellectually and morally, peace and 
joy unalloyed are assured to you. 

Abortion. — Among the moral evils resulting from 
marital excesses, must be reckoned the heinous crime 
of criminal abortion. A woman finds herself the un- 
willing mother of an unborn child, the very thought of 
which fills her with repugnance and disgust. She argues, 
Why should I be made to suffer the pains of pregnancy 
and childbirth merely to gratify the animal propensities 
of another ? She transfers the sense of injustice which 
she rightfully feels against the author of the wrong to 
the helpless creature which is the natural consequence 
of it, and allows her feelings to grow into actual 
vindictiveness, when she is ready for almost any meas- 
ure which will free her from the incumbrance, and 
willingly resorts to the use of drugs or instruments by 
which the purpose may be accomplished. 

Fearful indeed are the consequences of this terrible 



424 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

crime. Often enough the mother's life is sacrificed or 
her health forever shattered. No one could be more 
wretched than the woman who has brought upon her- 
self the physical woes resulting from this unnatural 
crime. The violence done the delicate tissues of the 
womb often sets up most terrible inflammations, the 
results of which can never be wholly effaced, if the 
sufferer does not pay the penalty for the crime with 
her life. Sometimes the most persistent efforts to 
compel the womb to give up its treasure do not suc- 
ceed, although the foetus may be so mutilated that at 
birth the human form is scarcely recognizable. This 
may be fairly considered as the cause of some of 
those terrible monstrosities which have sometimes been 
attributed to some demoniac agency, and which may 
still be charged to motives that are certainly some- 
thing less than human, — may we not say devilish ? 

The idea held by many that the destruction of foetal 
life is not a crime until after " quickening " has occurred, 
is a gross and mischievous error. No change occurs in 
the developing human being at this period. The so- 
called period of " quickening " is simply the period at 
which the movements of the little one become sufficiently 
active and vigorous to attract the attention of the 
mother. Long before this, slight movements have been 
taking place, and from the very moment of conception, 
those processes have been in operation which result in 
the production of a fully developed human being from a 
mere jelly drop, a minute cell. As soon as this devel- 
opment begins, a new human being has come into exist- 
ence, — in embryo, it is true, but possessed of its own 
individuality, with its own future, its possibilities of joy, 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 425 

grief, success, failure, fame, aud ignominy. From this 
moment, it acquires the right to life, a right so sacred 
that in every land to violate it is to incur 4he penalty of 
death. How many murderers and murderesses have 
gone unpunished ! None but Grod knows the full extent 
of this most heinous crime ; but the Searcher of all 
hearts knows and remembers every one who has thus 
transgressed ; and in the day of final reckoning, what 
will the verdict be ? Murder ?— MURDER, child-murder, 
the slaughter of the innocents, more cruel than Herod, 
more cold-blooded than the midnight assassin, more 
criminal than the man who slays his enemy, — the most 
unnatural, the most inhuman, the most revolting of all 
crimes against human life. 

But let us not condemn alone the weak, half-crazed 
woman who has been compelled to become a mother 
against her will, simply to gratify a sensual husband. 
Who will lay upon her more censure than upon the man 
who is responsible for the first sin? He deserves at 
least an equal share of condemnation. Let husbands 
weigh well this fact, and act accordingly. 

"Marital Rights." — Several times have we been 
approached by husbands with complaints that their wives 
denied them the exercise of their "marital rights." 
What are a man's " marital rights " ? Certainly no man 
has a right to treat his wife as a prostitute. The man 
who considers his wife as simply a means of gratifying 
his animal propensities, is unworthy of a wife. He is 
worse than a beast, or at least has less sense in this 
particular than most beasts, for, as a rule, a male beast 
will not approach a female who is not in a condition in 
which she desires sexual congress, and is prepared to 



426 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

engage in the act fruitfully. We do not hesitate to say 
that no man has the right to demand of his wife that she 
shall minister to his passions simply for his personal 
gratification. It is no part of a woman's marital obliga- 
tions to thus minister to and encourage a depraved and 
artificially stimulated appetite. A woman is sovereign 
over her own body, married or unmarried ; and no man 
not wholly given over to selfishness and grossness, will 
attempt to invade her rights for his personal gratifica- 
tion. 

But, says the passionate husband, whose wife lives 
upon a higher plane of being, what shall I do? — Conquer 
yourself. Subdue your lustful cravings. Repress the 
animal by the development of the intellectual and spirit- 
ual. Fight down and trample under foot the beast that 
rules you. Rise into a higher sphere. Leave behind 
and below you the gross and sensual. Do this, and you 
will become a new man. You will breathe a purer and 
a better atmosphere. Love will no longer mean lust 
and sensuality, but will become a purer passion, partak- 
ing less of sense, and more of that divinity which gave 
it origin. 

Cheating Nature. — Numerous devices are adopted 
by both married and unmarried for the purpose of defeat- 
ing the natural results of sexual indulgence, the nature 
of which it is unnecessary to notice here. It is sufficient 
to say that all are detrimental, and particularly that 
which cuts short the act before the occurrence of ejacu- 
lation. Women, in particular, are the greatest sufferers 
from this fraudulent proceeding, which has been termed 
"conjugal Onanism,'' and which is without doubt the 
veritable sin for which Onan suffered. If this sexual 



SEXUAL SINS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 427 

sin is of sufficient gravity to be named in Holy Writ, 
and to merit so summary a punishment by the hand of 
the Almighty himself, surely it cannot be considered a 
trifling matter. Thousands of men and women are suf- 
fering to-day with curious and varied forms of nervous 
and other disorders, the real cause of which is simply 
addiction to this sexual vice. The ingenuity of man has 
not yet devised a means by which the immutable 4 laws 
of nature can be abrogated or violated with impunity. 
The penalty of disease is certain to follow sooner or 
later, no matter what subterfuge is employed. 

MENTEL Y1CE, 

Many young men who have never been guilty of an 
overt act of sensuality, allow themselves to indulge in 
mental vice almost without restraint. The mind is 
permitted to dwell upon themes the most vile, to revel 
in all the filthiness of licentiousness. The imagination, 
stimulated to the highest possible degree, excites the 
body, and produces all the physical results of actual 
sensual indulgence. Indeed, the nervous excitement 
occasioned by this mental lasciviousness, is far more 
intense and exhausting than physical concupiscence. 
These filthy dreamers may imagine themselves pure 
because they do not commit overt sin; but He who 
knows all hearts, who reads the innermost thought as 
clearly as the most open act, the All-seeing eye, beholds 
these mental fornications and adulteries, and writes them 
in the record of human character. "What a fearful record 
this must be if every thought appears in all its monstrous 
hideousness. Young man, you who have abandoned 



428 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

yourself to mental lust, weigh carefully this thought. 
Would you like to have your mother look in upon your 
sensual mind, or know of its obscene wanderings? 
Would you respect your father if you knew his mind to 
be such a quagmire of mental filth as your own ? Can 
you respect yourself when you reflect upon the gross- 
ness of your own thoughts, the vile imaginings to which 
you have given loose rein ? 

Know well, young man, your sin will find you out. 
You may profess to be a man above reproach. Perhaps 
you are a communicant, a member of the Y. M. C. A., 
and an active worker in Christian enterprises of various 
sorts ; but this will not save you from becoming stamped 
with the mark of concupiscence. Your mental adulter- 
ies are not hidden, even from human eyes. An un- 
clean mind reveals its true character in that wonderfully 
accurate mirror, the human face. Every thought, every 
changing mental state, finds silent but emphatic expres- 
sion in the face. When rage, hate, envy, agitate the 
brain, the muscles of the face mold it so as to fit the 
mental state, and these awful passions stand out in bold 
relief. Sorrow and grief, joy and happiness, produce an 
equally striking picture. So also with lust. A mind 
filled with obscene and lustful thoughts, makes a corre- 
sponding picture upon the face. With photographic 
accuracy the muscles of expression portray the mental 
abominations within. By and by the transient expres- 
sions of the face become fixed, when the mind is allowed 
to dwell upon unclean things, and the face is indelibly 
stamped with the insignia of vice. As we mingle with 
young men and boys, as we pass them on the street, 
how many such faces do we see ! How few faces por- 



SEXUAL >IXS AXD THE IE CONSEQUENCES. 409 

tray a character unstained by lust, unsoiled by moral 
tilth! 

But the mental and moral consequences -of this form 
of vice are by no means the only results. Those who 
indulge in mental lasciviousness with the idea that they 
may thus gratify their sensual desires without incurring 
the risks of physical harm which other forms of sexual 
excess involve, deceive themselves in vain. We have 
met many cases in which all the effects of prolonged 
addiction to self-abuse were the result of mental vice 
alone. Indeed, the prolonged and intense excitement 
occasioned by an active imagination abandoned to lust, 
is in certain respects more harmful, and is certainly more 
exhausting, than almost any other form of sexual abuse. 
Xo form of sensuality produces such speedy and com- 
plete emasculation, or loss of sexual power, as this ; 
and no class of cases offers so little hope of recovery 
from the effects of transgression. 

Young man. have you become a slave to a sensual 
mind ? Are you one of those mental adulterers whose 
lecherous imagination compels every woman to be the 
victim of his lust, and hesitates not to debauch for his 
vile pleasure the purest and the best ? who loiters about 
the streets, gazing with lustful eyes upon every passing 
female ? or visits the theatre, the lecture hall, even the 
house of God. for the purpose of discovering new victims 
for his foul but fickle fancy ? who goes up and down in 
all the walks of society, seeking for beauty which the 
insatiable beast of passion within him may devour ? Do 
you belong to this horrible class of satyrs, monsters in 
human shape, moral assassins, cowardly, sneaking, con- 
scienceless invaders of virtue, from whose vile embrace 



430 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the purest and loveliest have no protection ? If you do, 
let me say to you that destruction awaits you. Swift 
retribution will fall upon you. You shall find yourself 
accursed in this world and the next. The pure joys of 
true love, of domestic peace and bliss, you shall never 
taste; and at the great day, when all men are called 
upon to render an account of their deeds, when every 
hidden thought stands out in boldest characters before 
the Judge of all the world, than shall your mean and 
filthy soul be weighed, and you will be sent away with 
those of whom it is said, " I never knew you." 

Young man, if you have taken the first step down 
toward this condition of mental infamy, call a halt at 
once in your mind-wanderings. Cease your vicious 
imaginings ; and by constant watchfulness and prayer, 
endeavor to win back your unchaste mind to paths of 
purity and virtue. 



Diseases of the Sexual (Mans. 




EARLY all forms of sexual disease are the 
result of sexual vices of some sort. The 
sexual organs are no more likely to be- 
come disordered than are other organs of 
the body, unless the laws which relate to 
their healthful activity are in some way 
transgressed. It does sometimes happen, 
however, that diseases of other portions of the 
body result in disorders of the sexual func- 
tions ; but those maladies which originate in 
this way, play a very insignificant part in the pa- 
thology of this important class of diseases. 

One conspicuous feature in this class of maladies is 
the remarkable influence they exert upon the health of 
the general system, which often seems to be vastly out 
of proportion to the local manifestations of disease. 
The explanation of this fact is found in the potent in- 
fluence of reflex activity. There are in the body three 
great centers of morbid reflex activity, — the brain, the 
nerve centers which preside over the digestive organs, 
and those which control the sexual and urinary organs. 
Among them all, perhaps the most powerful and far- 
reaching in its influence is the last-named, the genito- 

[431] 



432 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

urinary group. The close relation of this group of 
nerve centers to those which control the organs of di- 
gestion, as well as to the entire spinal cord, and through 
it with the brain, gives an opportunity for the widest 
and most varied influence to be exerted when diseased 
conditions set up a train of morbid processes in any part 
of the various organs under their immediate control. 

Thus it is that diseases of the sexual organs which 
are seemingly of the most trifling character, sometimes 
produce the most profound debility of the whole system, 
often to such a degree, indeed, as to give rise to the 
opinion that some grave organic disease may be sapping 
the vitality of the patient. 

SEXML EERYOUS DEBILITY. 

The long list of varying symptoms which have been 
grouped under the head of Sexual Neurasthenia, or 
Sexual Nervous Debility, presents such a formidable 
array of morbid sensations and conditions as to almost 
lead to the supposition that a person in this condition 
is compelled to experience every possible symptom or 
morbid sensation to which human flesh is heir. 

Symptoms, — Pains and other unpleasant sensations 
in the head, pressure at the back of the head, unpleasant 
sense of fullness in the forehead,, dullness of intellect, 
confusion of thought, want of readiness of thought, a sort 
of abstraction of the mind, nervous irritability, morbid 
fears, perversity of temper, fickleness of disposition, ten- 
derness of the eyeballs, sensitiveness of the eyes to 
light, specks before the eyes, giddiness, roaring and other 
sounds in the ears, twitching of the muscles in various 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 433 

parts of the body, numbness of the arms, limbs, or other 
parts, tenderness of the spine, backache, pains in the 
loins, wandering pains throughout the body, various dys- 
peptic symptoms, abnormal inactivity of the bowels, 
irregular action of the liver, profuse or scanty secretion 
of urine, abnormal sexual irritability, or the opposite 
condition, — these are but a few of the symptoms which 
harrass and render miserable the sufferer from sexual 
neurasthenia. 

Causes. — The most common of all causes of this 
disease is self-abuse, begun at an early age and con- 
tinued until after puberty, or acquired later and prac- 
ticed to great excess. Sometimes it may arise as the 
result of marital excesses, although in the latter case it 
is generally possible to trace the first beginning of the 
disorder to the practice of masturbation during child- 
hood or youth. 

Treatment.— Sexual neurasthenia is an accompani- 
ment of nearly all forms of sexual disorders, and, de- 
pending as it does upon these local disorders or morbid 
conditions for its cause, it requires no specific treatment 
other than such as may be indicated for the removal of 
the local disease, and such measures as will build up the 
general health, and restore the wasted nervous energies. 
Among the most valuable means for accomplishing 
the last-named purpose are the following : — 

Proper Exercise. — Proper exercise is not only an 
excellent nerve tonic, but it acts in a most powerful 
manner as a sedative in repressing nervous irritability. 
Daily exercise in the open air should be taken to the 
extent of producing genuine fatigue. The state of ex- 
treme exhaustion should never be reached, as this will 

28 



434 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

weaken rather than strengthen the wasted nervous sys- 
tem. Various gymnastic exercises are also valuable, 
and should be taken in a systematic and regular man- 
ner. 

For full directions respecting exercises, see the 
chapter devoted to that subject in a preceding portion 
of this work. 

Diet. — A sufferer from nervous debility should give 
scrupulous attention to diet. This is made necessary 
not only by the special requirements of a weakened 
nervous system, but by the fact that almost invariably 
the digestive organs are weakened, the lowered nerve 
tone producing a condition of atony which may be 
well described as slow digestion. Food should be suffi- 
cient ; good in quality, but moderate in quantity. Stimu- 
lating condiments of all sorts should be sedulously 
avoided. Tea and coffee, and all other narcotics and stim- 
ulants, particularly alcohol and tobacco in every form, 
should be entirely discarded. The diet should consist 
chiefly of fruits and grains, with an abundance of milk, 
and some of the better classes of vegetables. Two meals 
a day will be found preferable to three, provided they 
are taken with proper intervals between, and the avoid- 
ance of supper will be found perfectly conducive to 
healthful and refreshing sleep. A person suffering with 
this disease should read carefully the chapters entitled 
" Stomachs " and " Biliousness," and give careful heed to 
the suggestions there made. 

Sleep. — Regular and abundant sleep is essential. 
These persons often complain of always being tired, and 
particularly in the early part of the day, no matter how 
much sleep has been taken. This sense of exhaustion 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 435 

is not often real weariness, being most frequently a 
morbid sensation like many of the other symptoms 
which these sufferers experience ; but it is usually a 
very distressing symptom, and disappears only when 
the patient has largely recovered his normal vigor and 
nerve tone. Sometimes the morning languor is due to 
distressing and exhausting dreams through the night, 
the influence of which upon the nervous system is 
undoubtedly almost as bad as though the individual had 
actually encountered the experiences through which he 
wanders in the mazes of dream-land. 

Bathing. — The morning bath should not be with cold 
water, which is seldom borne well by this class of per- 
sons, but with water of a temperature a little below that 
of the body. This is a most excellent means of counter- 
acting the languor and lassitude referred to, and of stim- 
ulating the vital processes in such a way as to secure 
an improvement in the general nutrition. 

The various methods of taking baths will be found 
briefly described in a subsequent chapter. For the morn- 
ing bath, a sponge or towel bath is to be preferred to a 
full or shower bath. Hot baths are enervating in char- 
acter. The bath should always be cool enough to leave 
the patient with a lively glow after a vigorous rubbing. 

Sponging the spine with water as hot as can be 
borne, say 110° to 120°, is a very excellent means of 
relieving backache and exhaustion. Sponging alter- 
nately with hot and cold water, one-half a minute each, 
produces better effects than hot water alone. This 
treatment may be varied by sitting on the edge of a tub, 
and allowing the assistant to pour hot water from a 
dipper upon the spine. This hot pouring is one of the 
most effective means of relieving backache. 



4:36 -VAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

SPERMATORRHEA 

When used in its strictest sense, this term applies 
to an involuntary and unconscious escape of the seminal 
fluid without sexual excitement ; but common usage has 
given to it a wider significance, and we shall include 
under this head those conditions in which there occur 
involuntary seminal losses of any sort. Spermatorrhoea 
is not a disease of the testicles, and sometimes exists, 
indeed, when there is no disease of any of the genital 
organs. The involuntary discharges are the result of an 
abnormal excitability of the nerve centers which control 
the sexual organs. This condition results from the 
weakness and exhaustion following some form of sex- 
ual abuse. In the majority of cases, as we shall see, 
the leading local morbid condition is an irritability or 
abnormal sensibility of the urethra, particularly that 
portion nearest the bladder, known as the prostatic 
urethra. This portion of the canal is largely supplied 
with sensitive nerves, and surrounded with the ejacula- 
tory muscles, by the contraction of which the seminal 
discharge is produced. 

Varieties of Spermatorrhoea. — There are three 
distinct varieties of this disease, which are really differ- 
ent stages in the morbid process which lies at the foun- 
dation of the malady. These three conditions may 
follow one another as the disease progresses, or they 
may all exist together. 

The three conditions are known, respectively, as (1.) 
Nocturnal emissions, or pollutions ; (2.) Diurnal emis- 
sions ; (3.) Spermatorrhoea, or, as it has been termed, 
sperm orrhagia. We will consider each of these maladies 
or morbid conditions separately : — 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 437 

SOCTURHEL POLLUTIONS, OR WET DREEMS. 

Probably no form of sexual disease so often comes 
to the notice of the physician as this. The newspaper 
advertisements of quacks, and the advertising pamph- 
lets which are scattered about the country, abound with 
graphic descriptions of the terrible consequences of this 
disease, and are the occasion of great alarm to many 
who are not really suffering so seriously as to demand 
medical attention. 

Symptoms. — The usual symptoms complained of by 
this class, are those which have been enumerated under 
the head of " Sexual Nervous Debility," to which are 
added frequent seminal losses during sleep, either with or 
without lascivious dreams, and often various local symp- 
toms, particularly a smarting or burning accompanying 
the passage of urine, dribbling after urination, pains in 
the groins or the testicles, muscular twitching or dull 
pains in the perineum, or fork of the thighs, abnormal ex- 
citability of the parts, as indicated by frequent or pain- 
ful erections, or the reverse condition, — unnatural cold- 
ness or numbness of the genitals. The patient some- 
times notices that the left testicle hangs a little lower 
than the right, which he also attributes to the disease, as 
he does many other symptoms which have no relation 
to it. This condition of the left testicle is perfectly 
natural, and need be no cause for alarm. Unnatural 
tenderness, softness, or shrinking in size of the testicles, 
are symptoms which are sometimes present, and which 
are evidences of disease. 

Emissions never occur until after puberty, and gen- 
erally come on after the habit of self-abuse has been 



438 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

abandoned, or greatly diminished in frequency. At 
first, they may occur only at intervals of a week or two. 
Gradually, the frequency is increased until they may 
occur every night, or even as often as four or five times 
in a single night, rapidly reducing the patient to a most 
wretched condition of physical, mental, and nervous 
exhaustion. 

It must not be imagined, however, that a loss of 
this kind is in itself evidence of serious disease, although 
it is undoubtedly true that with a perfectly healthy 
and continent man, who lives a quiet and normal life, 
not allowing his thoughts to dwell upon such subjects 
as produce frequent and abnormal excitement of the 
genitals, involuntary pollutions would never occur ; and 
in individuals who closely approximate the above-named 
conditions of life, nocturnal pollutions certainly occur 
with very great rarity. The question will arise, How 
often may such losses occur without serious impairment 
of health, or without being properly considered evidences 
of disease ? To this we must reply that there can be no 
absolutely positive rule established for every individual, 
but it may be said that if such losses do not occur more 
frequently than once in three or four weeks, in persons 
whose sexual organs have not been previously weakened 
by abuse or by more frequent losses, and if such losses 
are not followed by depression or other unpleasant 
symptoms, the individual may be considered to be in a 
condition of health. At least, no remedial interference 
is demanded. There is certainly very great diversity in 
the ability of individuals to endure losses of this kind. 
In some persons, they ^ccur as often as once or twice a 
week for years, without producing, apparently, any very 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 439 



grave results ; while in others, a loss even much less 
frequently will each time be followed by extreme nerv- 
ous irritability of disposition, exhaustion, backache, and 
the general group of symptoms present in these cases. 

It should be noted that the unpleasant effects of 
nocturnal losses, though usually felt most intensely on 
the following day, sometimes are not observed until the 
second or third day afterward. There seems to be an 
effort on the part of the system to maintain its usual 
condition, which succeeds for a day or two, and then 
gives place to the nervous collapse from which most of 
the symptoms arise. In some persons, these symptoms 
are quite evanescent, lasting but a few hours ; while in 
others, they last several days, and almost totally unfit 
him for physical or mental exercise. Frequently the 
depression arising from this cause is so great as to pro- 
duce most profound melancholy. The individual is 
plunged into a state of such utter wretchedness and 
despair that life seems to be intolerable ; and when this 
condition is made almost constant, by the frequent repe- 
tition of the loss, it is not remarkable that the mind 
sometimes gives way, so that reason becomes dethroned, 
and the poor victim becomes an inmate of an insane 
asylum, or ends his sufferings by suicide. 

It is a matter to be greatly regretted that the aver- 
age medical practitioner does not properly understand 
disorders of this class, nor appreciate the grave symptoms 
to which they may give rise. The young man suffering 
in this way, who calls upon his family physician, and 
explains to him his condition, is generally met by the 
assurance that the difficulty is wholly in his imagination, 
that he has probably been reading some quackish adver- 



440 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

tisement or publication, and that all he has to do is to 
give the matter no attention, and he will suffer no harm. 
He is assured that the losses from which he is suffering 
are " perfectly natural," that it is an indication of health 
rather than disease, and that he need not have given 
himself any concern about it. 

We have met scores of young men, who, through re- 
ceiving such advice as the above, have been led to allow 
the malady to gain ground, continuing year after year 
without attention, until it had reduced them to great 
physical wretchedness, mental enfeeblement, and almost 
total impotence. While the advice may be entirely 
suitable in a certain class of cases, the wholesale manner 
in which it is administered by ignorant practitioners to 
young men suffering in this way, is certainly productive 
of a vast amount of. harm, although those offering the 
advice are certainly not open to the charge of dishonesty, 
and undoubtedly think themselves to be acting in the 
best interests of their patients. 

Causes. — Very little need be said under this head in 
this connection, as those who have read the preceding 
chapters of this work must be already thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the fact that the condition of exhaustion 
and abnormal excitability of the spinal nerve centers, 
which are the immediate result of this disease, are almost 
exclusively the result of sexual excesses of some sort, 
and particularly of the practice of self-abuse. We have, 
however, met a few cases in which it was impossible to 
obtain any evidence that this practice had been indulged, 
or indeed that there had been any form of sexual excess. 
In several cases, young men have declared to us that, 
although they had been perfectly continent all their lives, 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 441 

and had never indulged in the practice of self-abuse, 
having been properly warned against its effects, yet 
they were suffering frequent seminal losses, and from all 
the symptoms of sexual exhaustion. In these cases, the 
disease was traceable to what we have elsewhere consid- 
ered under the head of " Mental Vice." The mind had 
been allowed to wander upon sexual subjects to a great 
extent, producing very frequent and prolonged sexual 
excitement, as the result of which an abnormal activity 
of the secreting organs was produced, together with full- 
ness of the seminal vesicles. In dreams, the thoughts 
which had been uppermost during the waking hours, 
took possession of the mind, and this, together with the 
local conditions, was sufficient to give rise to seminal 
losses. Under these circumstances, the nocturnal emis- 
sions might be regarded as a sort of safety-valve through 
which the abnormal excitement and irritability might be 
worked off, and the occurrence might justly be regarded 
as less injurious than the continuous excitement which 
it, for a time at least, allays. 

The injury resulting to the system from these pollu- 
tions, whether voluntary or involuntary, indeed from 
every form of sexual excess, arises not from the loss of 
seminal fluid, but from the intense excitement of the 
nervous system. Hence, it is easy to understand that 
excitement of this kind, if long maintained, even though 
not reaching the highest degree of intensity, might be of 
greater damage to the system than the momentary ex- 
citement attending ejaculation. 

In cases of long standing, and indeed not infrequently 
in recent cases, it will be found that persons suffering 
with nocturnal losses have an abnormal sensitiveness or 



442 MAN t THE MASTERPIECE. 

irritability of the prostatic portion of the urethra. This 
is indicated by smarting or burning during or after the 
passage of urine, by dribbling of the urine after urination, 
by the escape of a small amount of clear fluid from the 
urethra during movements of the bowels, and sometimes 
by a soreness or dull pain in the perineum, or fork of the 
thighs ; in severe cases, by pain during ejaculation, and 
sometimes by the passage of bloody semen. This irrita- 
bility of the prostatic urethra may be ascertained by the 
passage of a bougie, or sound, or by pressure upon the 
part with the finger passed into the rectum. 

This urethral irritability is in most cases the imme- 
diate existing cause of nocturnal losses. Irritation, or 
congestion, involving, as it does, the mouths of the sem- 
inal or ejaculatory ducts, is reflected to the nerve centers 
controlling the muscles surrounding these parts, so that 
a degree of excitement much less than the amount ordi- 
narily required to produce ejaculation, is sufficient, espe- 
cially during sleep, to produce the venereal orgasm, or 
seminal loss. 

Treatment. — The treatment of this class of cases 
requires great prudence, judgment, skill, and experience. 
That a man who has not made a special study of the 
subject is not prepared to treat successfully cases of any 
degree of gravity, is evidenced by the fact that so emi- 
nent a man as Prof. Xiemeyer has asserted that medicine 
is powerless to afford any very great degree of relief in 
these cases. That this is a mistake, however, is proved 
by the testimony of a large number of English and 
German specialists, whose success in the treatment of 
this malady justifies the statement made by Acton, of 
London, that "the prognosis of an ordinary case is very 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. ±±3 

favorable, provided the patient will honestly aid the 
surgeon in effecting a cure." The author is also justified 
by the results of his own experience in claiming for the 
treatment of this class of cases the most gratifying suc- 
cess. Indeed, there is probably no class of functional 
disorders which yield more readily to thorough, rational, 
and scientific management than does this. Of course, 
recent cases are much more readily controlled than those 
of long standing, but it is safe to say that there are few, 
if any, cases which cannot be greatly relieved, and the 
majority can be substantially cured by the adoption of 
the proper means. 

To Control the Losses. — First, we will consider such 
measures as may be adopted to prevent the occurrence 
of the losses, and chief among these we must place 
mental control. 

Dreams are but reflections of our waking hours. In 
dream-land, we live over the experiences of the day. 
Dreams may be said to be an echo or a shadow of our 
voluntary thoughts and acts ; hence it becomes a matter 
of the gravest importance that the mind should be thor- 
oughly purged of all unchastity. During sleep, when 
the will is less active, the passions which have been 
aroused and tantalized by ungratified excitement, will 
assert supremacy, and carry the individual through all 
degrees of sensuousness. On the other hand, when the 
mind is, during the waking hours, kept under thorough 
control and free from impure thoughts, the dreams will 
be far less likely to assume a lascivious character. 

Voluntary Control of Dreams. — Even during sleep, 
the will is not entirely dormant. If the will is energet- 
ically employed during the waking hours, instantly re- 



4A4: MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

pressing the first suggestion of impurity, the habit of 
the waking hours will be maintained even during sleep, 
and the first suggestion of erotic ideas, even in dreams, 
will arouse the will to resistance. By determined and 
persistent effort in this direction, this practice of the will 
may be made so vigorous as to arouse the individual 
from sleep at the first suggestion of sensual ideas, and in 
time to prevent the occurrence of the sexual paroxysm. 
This is a principle of the utmost importance in the treat- 
ment of this disease, and should be thoroughly compre- 
hended and continuously employed by one who is seeking 
deliverance from this disgusting disorder. 

Even after the excitement attending the emission 
has begun, a sufficiently vigorous effort of the will may 
repress and shorten it ; and by continued effort in this 
direction it may, after a time, be brought fully under 
control. 

Success by this means, however, requires the most 
faithful and persevering effort. Resistance should be 
made in every instance. A single failure to exert the 
will restores the malady to full control, and makes it 
necessary for the patient to fight the entire battle over 
again. The only cases of this disease which are hopeless 
are those in which the mind has become so debased, and 
the will so weakened, that both body and mind have be- 
come a helpless prey to evil thoughts, and to "the 
passions' vengeful reign." But if the patient goes about 
this work in real earnest, and wages a vigorous warfare 
against every form of sensuality in thought or act, he 
may feel the utmost confidence of success. 

As aids to proper medical control, it is important 
that the patient should cultivate such society as will 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 445 

encourage good and elevated thoughts. The suggestions 
made and the directions for the cure of self-abuse are 
all applicable to cases of this sort, and should be care- 
fully read. 

Diet. — At least a second place should be assigned to 
the influence of diet when properly regulated in con- 
trolling these losses. The patient who overeats, in- 
dulges in stimulating or exciting foods, ices, pastries, late 
suppers, and other dietetic digressions, is certain to suf- 
fer much more frequently in this way than he who care- 
fully adapts his dietetic regimen to the requirements of 
health. The diet should be thoroughly nutritious, but 
unstimulating. Animal food, taken in great abundance, 
exerts an undoubted influence in exciting the sexual 
organs, and producing involuntary losses during sleep. 
A stimulating diet also produces such a state of the 
nervous system as predisposes to erotic thoughts, and 
renders mental control much more difficult. An un- 
doubted influence is also exerted through the urine. 
Animal food, in any but small quantities, especially if 
the patient is not habitually engaged in vigorous muscu- 
lar exercise, produces a condition of the urine which is 
likely to excite irritability of the bladder, or to aggra- 
vate an irritable condition of the prostatic urethra already 
existing. 

Condiments of all sorts are particularly harmful. 
A person who has indulged in a heavy supper, in which 
soup or other foods containing a considerable amount of 
cayenne pepper has been taken, will recollect a smarting 
and burning pain in the rectum the following morning. 
This is due to the fact that pepper, as well as most 
other spices, is not soluble in the digestive fluids, a con- 



446 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

siderable portion remaining in the alimentary canal, and 
acting as a direct irritant to the mucous membrane of 
the intestines, all the way down. The irritation is felt 
only in the lower part of the rectum, as it is the only 
portion abundantly supplied with sensitive nerves. The 
close proximity of the ejaculatory ducts and seminal 
vesicles renders an irritation of this kind especially 
provocative of sensual desires and excitements. Hence 
nothing could be better calculated to bring on involun- 
tary excitements during sleep than the use of these 
condiments. 

Tobacco, alcoholic liquors, even tea and coffee, all 
act directly or indirectly, in greater or less degree, upon 
the sexual system, and their use should be entirely dis- 
carded. 

Hot water should be liberally used as a drink for the 
purpose of diluting the urine, and thus preventing any 
irritation arising from a too concentrated condition of 
this secretion. If the digestion is feeble, so that cold 
water is slowly absorbed, water should be taken at a 
temperature a little above blood heat, or at about the 
temperature at which tea or coffee is usually taken. 
The best time for taking hot water is about one hour 
before eating, and half an hour before retiring at night. 
Six or eight glasses may be taken a day with advantage. 
Little fluid should be drank at meals, and ice-water 
should be avoided at all times. As a substitute for tea 
and coffee, hot milk may be taken with advantage. 

Foods abounding with fats, rich cake, preserves, 
pickles, and all articles difficult of digestion, should be 
carefully and habitually avoided. These articles pro- 
duce indigestion and gastric irritation, which, acting 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 447 

reflexly upon the genital organs, produce local excite- 
ments that otherwise might not have occurred. 

We have often known young men to relieve them- 
selves of this unhappy condition by adopting the vege- 
tarian diet, although this cannot be offered as a panacea 
or a specific for this or any other morbid condition. 
One who is thoroughly desirous of recovering his health, 
will be willing to make any sacrifice required for the 
accomplishment of his purpose. If health is worth any- 
thing, it is worth working for. It is worth denying the 
appetite and curtailing depraved tastes ; and there is this 
to be said for the encouragement of one engaged in this 
struggle, that the conflict with appetite, if manfully and 
faithfully fought, is usually a brief one. Appetites and 
cravings which, at first were hard to be resisted, gradu- 
ally weaken under the influence of persistent control, 
until after a time their clamorings cease, natural tastes 
and instincts are restored, and the relentless rule of 
perverted desires and depraved tendencies closes. The 
consciousness of freedom which one experiences who 
has successfully fought this battle, is ample compensa- 
tion for the mental effort and the self-denial required to 
win the victory. 

Exercise. — The influence of vigorous muscular ex- 
ercise in calming and controlling the passions, has been 
sufficiently dwelt upon elsewhere, and the observations 
made need not be repeated here. A sufficient amount 
of exercise should be taken daily to produce gentle 
muscular fatigue, though complete exhaustion should be 
avoided. The quantity of exercise and how it should 
be taken, may be learned by reference to the chapter 
on this subject. The effects of muscular exercise is to 



448 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

distribute the blood well through the body, thus pre- 
venting local congestion, and to work off the condition 
of plethory and nervous erethism which are predispos- 
ing causes of the disease under consideration. 

Sleep. — Attention to the conditions of sleep are 
of the utmost importance in the treatment of this 
malady. Special attention should be given, 1. To 
the position of the body during sleep. Every sufferer 
from this malady is aware of the fact that these losses 
almost always occur while sleeping upon the back. 
This allows the blood to accumulate in the spinal cord, 
and also overheats this part of the body, thus in two 
ways producing abnormal excitability of the nerve cen- 
ters controlling the sexual organs. Emissions are hence 
likely to occur when the body is in this position, when 
the organs have been weakened by abuse, or when local 
irritability exists. 

It is for this same reason that nightmare occurs 
from sleeping upon the back, in connection with ir- 
ritability of the digestive organs, arising from indiges- 
tion, or the attempt to dispose of a late or indigestible 
supper. The best position for sleeping is upon the side, 
and preferably upon the right side. This relieves the 
nerves at the back of the trunk from the pressure of the 
abdominal organs, and prevents overheating of the spine, 
and undue accumulation of blood about the nerve cen- 
ters. Those who are restless during sleep, often chang- 
ing position without waking, may succeed in prevent- 
ing themselves from getting upon the back by fastening 
about the waist a towel, in the center of which a knot 
has been tied, inclosing a small stone or other hard 
object. The pressure of the knot upon the spine will 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 449 

produce sufficient disturbance to awaken the individual 
from sleep, should he turn upon the back. Patients 
have sometimes made for themselves a harness for this 
purpose, which is more easily retained in position than 
a towel. 

Various elaborate devices have been constructed for 
waking the patient from sleep on the occurrence of sexual 
excitement, among which are various forms of "rings." 
The success of devices of this sort depends entirely 
upon the promptness with which their suggestions are 
heeded. A person who neglects to give immediate at- 
tention to the gentle reminder offered by these devices, 
very soon disregards them altogether, so that they come 
to be of no avail. All of them are of far less value 
than the suggestion previously made to so charge the 
will with the duty of resisting these tendencies that it 
will be aroused to a vigorous resistance at the first sug- 
gestion of danger. 

2. Avoid morning napping. Nocturnal losses almost 
always occur in the morning, when the sleep is less 
profound than in the early part of the night, and the 
imagination begins to become active in the production 
of dreams. It is very likely to occur during the second 
nap, if the individual, after awakening toward morning, 
again falls asleep, as this second sleep is very likely 
to be attended by dreams and half-waking reveries ; 
hence a second nap should be sedulously avoided. When 
the loss occurs at a regular hour in the morning, as is 
sometimes the case, it is well for the individual to pro- 
vide himself with an alarm clock, which should be set 
half an hour before the usual time for the loss to occur, 
and he should promptly get up and dress himself as 

29 



450 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

soon as the warning is given. Dozing in bed is simply 
frying in the teeth of danger, and must on no account be 
indulged. 

3. Fullness of the bladder or bowels is very apt to 
provoke an emission, and hence both should be emptied 
before retiring, and it is well to form the habit of awak- 
ening one's self in the middle of the night to relieve the 
bladder. A person who is much troubled from this 
cause, should avoid drinking in the evening. 

It is not necessary to move the bowels at night if 
there has been a proper evacuation in the morning after 
breakfast, which is the most natural time for the bowels 
to move ; but if they have not been moved thoroughly 
during the day, some means should be taken to secure 
an evacuation at night, and if necessary, the enema may 
he resorted to. 

4. A person suffering from nocturnal losses should 
avoid sleeping on feathers or on a bed which is very soft. 
The bed should be rather hard. A cotton, wool, or hair 
mattress is the best. The bed covering should be as 
light as is consistent with comfort. Feather pillows 
should also be avoided, as they tend to heat the head. 
A thin pillow of cotton or hair is preferable. 

5. The sleeping-room should be well ventilated, and 
only slightly heated. A heated or poorly ventilated 
room is a powerfully predisposing cause of sexual ex- 
citement during sleep. 

6. Before retiring at night, the patient should avoid 
any sort of mental exercise which will produce very 
great excitement or exhaustion of the brain or nerves. 
A half hour's walk in the open air, or, if the weather is 
inclement, exercise with dumb-bells or Indian clubs is 
an excellent preparation for sound and refreshing sleep. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 451 

Care of the Bowels. — Careful attention to the 
bowels is a matter of first consequence in these cases. 
Constipation leads to congestion of the pelvic organs, 
and the violent efforts required to move the bowels con- 
gest and irritate the seminal vesicles, the prostatic por- 
tion of the urethra, and indeed the entire genitals. The 
bowels should be kept regular and the movement soft by 
means of an abundant fruit diet and prompt and regular 
attention to the calls of nature. If the stools are very 
dry, the difficulty may often be overcome by wearing a 
moist bandage, called "Neptune's girdle," around the 
lower part of the trunk at night, to be applied as follows : 
Wring a towel out of cold water dry enough so it will 
not drip. Wind around the body, and cover with three 
or four thicknesses of dry flannel. On removing in the 
morning, rub with the hand in cold water, and dry by 
brisk rubbing with a dry towel. Kneading and percus- 
sing the bowels three or four times a day is also an 
advantageous measure. If the stools are not dry, but 
there is simply a want of inclination to move the bowels 
at the proper time, this difficulty may be removed by 
simply injecting into the bowels a small quantity of 
glycerine and water, a teaspoonful of glycerine to three 
or four tablespoonfuls of water being about the right 
proportion in quantity. Use this about one hour after 
breakfast, the time when the bowels naturally move. If 
there is an irritability about the rectum, wash it out 
with half a pint of cool water after each time the bowels 
move. 

Bathing. — Daily bathing is essential, not only to 
maintain the health of the skin, but to encourage the 
assimilative processes by which the general nutrition is 
maintained. The cool morning bath is one of the best 



452 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE 

means of toning up an exhausted nervous system. It 
may be taken by means of a sponge or a towel, as 
directed elsewhere in this volume. Either pure water 
may be employed, or with a little ammonia, vinegar, or 
salt. These should be used as follows : Ammonia water, 
one dram to the quart of water; vinegar, one part to 
four of water; salt, a tablespoooful to the quart of 
water. A soap-and- water bath should be taken once a 
week. In cold weather, the above may be followed by 
an oil rub, to prevent taking cold. A cool or tepid 
sponge bath should be taken at least three or four times 
a week, and it is better that the bath should be taken 
daily. 

The sitz bath, described elsewhere, is a most excel- 
lent means of relieving local congestion, which is one of 
the most potent causes of this malady. The tempera- 
ture of the bath should be about ninety-two degrees, and 
the bath should be continued twenty or thirty minutes. 
It is best taken just before retiring at night. Persons 
who are strong physically, may take this bath every 
night before retiring. In other cases, in which the gen- 
eral health is much impaired, the bath had better be 
taken not more frequently than three or four times a 
week. 

The wet girdle should be worn at night, especially 
in cases in which there is a tendency to constipation due 
to deficient secretion, which is the case when the stools 
are inclined to be hard and dry. The girdle may be worn 
at night only, or in the warm seasons of the year, day 
and night. In cold weather, it is best to remove the wet 
girdle in the morning, replacing it by a dry flannel to be 
worn during the day. The effect of the wet girdle is to 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 453 

stimulate the secreting glands of the intestines to in- 
creased activity, causing them to throw into the intes- 
tines a large amount of fluid, the deficiency of which is 
one of the most frequent causes of constipation, this 
being, as we have elsewhere observed, a very power- 
ful predisposing cause of nocturnal losses. 

In connection with the use of the girdle for relief of 
constipation, the bowels should be thoroughly kneaded 
and percussed with the hands several times a day, par- 
ticularly on rising in the morning. The effect of this is 
to increase the peristaltic movements of the intestines, 
thereby encouraging normal activity. Move the bowels 
at a regular time each day, the proper time being half 
an hour to an hour after breakfast. If necessary, the 
enema must be employed. 

The enema is also an excellent means of relieving 
local irritability. When employed for this purpose, the 
quantity taken should not be large, not more than one 
or one and a half pints, and the temperature of the wa- 
ter should be considerable lower than that of the body, 
say seventy or eighty degrees. It should be slowly 
introduced, and should be retained fifteen or twenty 
minutes. The cool enema should be taken at night, half 
an hour before retiring. 

Applications to the Spine. — One of the most effective 
means of relieving the irritable weakness of the lower 
portion of the spinal cord, which is the direct cause of 
seminal emissions, is to be found in the application of 
heat, either in the form of hot fomentations, sponging with 
hot water, or alternate hot and cold sponging. The hot 
pour, administered to the lower portion of the spine, the 
patient sitting upon the edge of a wash-tub or other 



454 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

receptacle while water is poured upon the spine from a 
dipper, is a very efficient mode of applying heat to this 
part of the body. The effect of these applications in 
controlling the morbid activity of the sexual organs is 
very marked indeed, and may be considered one of the 
most important means that can be employed in these 
cases. 

Use of Sounds. — Much benefit may be derived in 
many cases by the employment of the steel sound, or 
wax bougie. By the skillful use of this instrument, the 
irritability of the urethra may be gradually obliterated, 
and its morbid reflex action, upon which the occurrence 
of the nocturnal losses depends, may be checked. This 
treatment cannot be well employed without the instruc- 
tion of a competent physician, and should be rarely at- 
tempted as a means of self- treatment. We should also 
state that we have little confidence in this manner of 
treatment, except when employed in conjunction with 
other measures ; but when thus used, we have found it 
of very great service in hundreds of cases. 

The cooling sound, or psychrophore, is an instrument 
which combines the advantages of the sound with the 
application of cold directly to the urethra. The instru- 
ment is essentially a double metallic catheter, so con- 
structed that a stream of cold water can be passed 
through it, while it is held in position for a sufficient 
length of time to produce a decided effect upon the 
urethral passage. This instrument is the invention of 
Prof. Winternitz, of Vienna, from whom we had the 
pleasure of receiving suggestions respecting its use a few 
years since, while visiting the amiable professor at his 
famous medical establishment at Kaltbad, a little mount- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 455 

ain village in the vicinity of Vienna. We have employed 
this instrument for a number of years, and with excellent 
results in certain cases, but cannot recommend its indis- 
criminate use. 

Electricity. — This is certainly one of the most valu- 
able of all local methods of treatment which have been 
suggested for this malady. Of the various forms of 
electricity, the galvanic and faradic currents are the 
only ones of practical utility in these cases. The faradic 
current has a decidedly beneficial effect in toning up the 
weakened nerve centers, and restoring lost tone in the 
parts diseased. Galvanic electricity is chiefly useful in 
relieving congestion of the parts, and lessening the 
irritability of the nerve centers of the spinal cord. The 
electricity may be applied to the spine and external 
organs, or more effectively still by the steel sound passed 
into the bladder so as to bring the whole urethra under 
the influence of the current. One sponge should be 
applied to the sacrum, the other successively to the spine, 
bowels, thighs, and the perineum, or fork of the thighs. 
The galvanic current should be used with great care, as 
much harm may be done by the employment of too 
strong a current, or by the application of even a mild 
current for too great a length of time. 

Medicinal Remedies. — In many cases, emissions 
occur less as the result of an immediate or exciting 
cause, than from the influence of a morbid habit which 
has been established in the system. Any means which 
will interrupt the habitual occurrence of the emissions, 
which is sometimes so regular as to be almost periodical, 
is a useful means of treatment, even though its effects 
may be quite transient in character. The habit once 



456 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

broken, the disease is more easily controlled. There are 
certain drugs which possess the property of lessening 
nervous irritability or benumbing the nervous sensibil- 
ity, and have a special controlling influence over this 
disease. Among the most useful drugs of this class are 
the bromides. These may sometimes be used for tem- 
porary effect with great advantage. It should be borne 
in mind, however, that the bromides, as well as all other 
drugs, are capable of being abused, and that their con- 
tinued use w T ould be likely to result in harm, not only to 
the nervous system, but to the digestive organs. If re- 
sorted to, it should be only under the advice of a physi- 
cian and for a brief length of time, as when long used, 
they are almost certain to produce serious disturbances 
of digestion. When used in large doses, the bromides 
often produce great disorder of the stomach, together 
with many nervous troubles. 

The medicines sent out by the multitude of quacks 
who advertise to cure this malady, if not wholly fraudu- 
lent in character, usually consist chiefly of bromide of 
potash, which, by checking the emissions, induces the 
individual to believe that he is cured. In the vast 
majority of cases, however, the effect of the drug only 
lasts as long as the medicines are being taken, or at best 
but a short time afterward. The continued use of drugs 
of this class, advertised so liberally by charlatans, is 
invariably bad. Patients usually find themselves in a 
worse condition than at first, after spending a considerable 
amount of money for nostrums which at the very best 
could do very little good, and are pretty certain to do 
great harm. 

Unfortunate indeed is the young man suffering with 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 457 

this malady who falls into the hands of one of the many 
human sharks that abound in all our large cities, and are 
watching every opportunity to prey upon young men 
who may be led to seek them for advice. The first 
effort is to excite the mind of the patient to the highest 
degree of alarm respecting his condition, even causing 
him to imagine that his case is almost hopeless, where 
in many cases the existing disease is so trifling that 
the patient might with perfect propriety be recom- 
mended to forget it altogether. No young man suffer- 
ing in this way should ever place his case in the hands 
of a physician whose character he does not know to 
be above reproach. It is far better to place confidence 
in the family physician than to consult one of these so- 
called " specialists," who are generally ignorant pre- 
tenders, skilled only in the arts of deception, and in ways 
and means of decoying victims into their money-taking 
net. 

BIURNEL EMISSIONS. 

Under the above head are included all forms of invol- 
untary discharges, whether seminal or not, occurring in 
the day-time, with the exception of the discharge ac- 
companying gonorrhoea, or gleet. In the healthy state, 
the urethra is subject to no discharge at all, except as 
the result of sexual excitement. In a state of disease, 
discharges occur which may or may not be attended by 
venereal excitement or sensation of any sort. 

There has been much discussion respecting the sig- 
nificance and importance of these diurnal discharges. 
Some have undoubtedly exaggerated the importance of 
this symptom, especially when the discharge only 



458 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

amounts to a very small quantity, as a drop or two of 
clear, transparent fluid, while others have perhaps un- 
derestimated its importance, expressing the opinion that 
the symptom is never of serious import, except as it 
gives rise to feelings of apprehension on the part of the 
patient. It is undoubtedly true that patients are often 
unnecessarily apprehensive, feeling uncalled-for alarm 
on noticing the presence of a slight discharge on going 
to stool, or after passing urine; but from extensive 
observations in cases of this sort, we are convinced that 
the real danger is to a large extent not understood 
by physicians who have not given the matter care- 
ful study, and that quite as much harm has been 
done by the failure of medical men to appreciate the 
necessity of making careful investigation of the facts 
whenever the patient complains of an abnormal discharge 
of this character, as from the overanxiety of those 
whose fears were greater than the circumstances of the 
case would justify. 

Some may consider it absurd that the loss of so 
small a quantity of fluid of any kind whatever as is 
observed in many patients who suffer in this way, 
is an adequate cause to account for the numerous and 
serious symptoms of which such persons complain; 
and it may be concluded with justice that many of 
the distressing sensations and conditions which these 
sufferers mention are the result of a morbid imagina- 
tion, and do not arise directly from the symptom re- 
ferred to. Yet any physician who has had a large 
experience with this class of patients, must certainly 
admit, that however much there may be of diseased 
imagination in these cases, there is still much which 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 459 

must be chargeable to morbid physical states. It 
may also be suggested that, in many cases at least, 
the long train of unpleasant symptoms which the pa- 
tient experiences is not the result of the involuntary 
discharges, but that the latter symptom is with the 
rest the result of some underlying morbid physical 
condition to which all the symptoms are due, and is 
simply a local expression of the general disease. We 
have frequently observed in the history of these cases 
that the involuntary discharges did not appear until 
many of the other symptoms had been long present. 
Cases of this sort are usually those in which general 
nervous debility, arising from indigestion, excessive 
labor, either mental or muscular, with deficient sleep, in- 
temperance, or other similar causes, is a permanent 
feature. 

The important relation of these discharges to the 
general health of the body, is, however, sufficiently 
established by practical experience, which clearly dem- 
onstrates that the checking of such a discharge by the 
employment of either general or local measures, or both 
combined, usually results in an unmistakable gain in the 
patient's physical condition, and the removal of a great 
share of the distressing symptoms of which he com- 
plains. This fact justifies giving to this class of patients 
serious and careful attention, sufficient, at least, to 
determine the nature of the discharge from which they 
are suffering, and to secure the adoption of such means 
as will be most likely to result in the cessation of the ab- 
normal discharge. This course would be at least commend- 
able, even if it were demonstrated that the discharge 
itself was a matter of no consequence, since the mental 



460 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

distress suffered by patients who consult a physician 
respecting a discharge of this character, is usually so 
great as to be itself a cause of serious danger to health, 
and to demand the employment of every proper means 
which may bring relief. The importance of setting such 
a patient's mind at rest by removing the symptom upon 
which his mental pertubation is based, is too well recog- 
nized by physicians experienced with this class of cases 
to need emphasis here. 

The Character of the Discharge. — In order to 
understand the nature of these discharges, it is neces- 
sary to recollect the fact that the natural seminal dis- 
charge is a mucous fluid, composed of various secretions 
formed at several points along the seminal and urinary 
passages. First, we have spermatozoa, formed in the 
testicles ; secondly, a mucous secretion, formed in the 
seminal vesicles ; and thirdly, a clear, glairy, and 
somewhat viscid secretion, formed by the glands of the 
prostate. Diurnal emissions may consist of any one of 
these secretions, or of two or all combined. The amount 
may vary from a single drop to one or two drams. In 
the majority of cases, the discharges consist of one or 
two drops of a thick, viscid, or milky fluid, appearing at 
the end of the urethra after passing the urine, or during 
erections under strong sexual excitement. Not infre- 
quently, however, in cases in which the sexual organs 
are very much weakened by abuse, the mere stimulus of 
erotic thought or any mechanical excitement whatever, 
is sufficient to produce the venereal orgasm, accompa- 
nied by the ejaculation of a considerable quantity of 
seminal fluid. The clear, viscid fluid mentioned above, 
is simply prostatic secretion. Microscopical examina- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 461 

tion will rarely if ever disclose the presence, in this form 
of discharge, of spermatozoa, the characteristic element 
of seminal fluid. The opaque discharge, even if the 
quantity is only one or two drops, may contain a larger 
or smaller proportion of spermatozoa. It usually con- 
sists chiefly of opaque mucus from the glands of the 
prostate, and is due to catarrh of this part. 

The frequency of these discharges varies greatly in 
different cases, and at different times in the same indi- 
vidual. Sometimes they are noticed at intervals of sev- 
eral days or of several weeks, occurring only as the 
result of special provocation, as intense and prolonged, 
but ungratifled sexual excitement, the exceedingly det- 
rimental effects of which have been previously pointed 
out. In other cases, the discharges occur with greater 
frequency, daily, or even several times a day, and with 
little apparent cause, perhaps without the knowledge of 
the individual. Indeed, in some cases, discharges may 
occur with the urine, and wholly without the knowledge 
of the patient, and can only be brought to light by a 
careful microscopical examination of the urine by a com- 
petent person. We have met a number of instances of 
this sort in which the individual had been long suffer- 
ing with great physical and mental debility, and had 
been treated by various physicians, some of eminence, 
without other results than temporary palliation of their 
distressing symptoms. On making a urinary examina- 
tion, which has been with the author a routine practiced 
for many years, the real cause of the debility and suffer- 
ing was discovered by the presence in the urine of great 
quantities of spermatozoa, though previously this cause 
had not been suspected. 



462 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The real nature of a urethral discharge cannot be 
determined by other means than a careful microscopical 
examination with a microscope of sufficient power, used 
by a person who is familiar with the normal and abnor- 
mal conditions of the secretions of the seminal and 
urinary passages. We have frequently found spermato- 
zoa present in cases in which we thought the discharge 
to be simply a quantity of urethral mucus or prostatic 
secretion. It should be borne in mind that the quantity 
of the discharge is no proper criterion of the gravity of 
the conditions which may exist in connection with it. 
It is not the amount of fluid lost which occasions the 
damage to the system, but rather the reflex irritation 
arising from the morbid condition of the sexual organs, 
which makes such a discharge possible. There is always, 
in these cases, an irritable condition of the urethra, and 
in the worst cases, in which the discharge occurs un- 
consciously with the urine, a relaxed condition of the 
ejaculatory ducts. Through the spinal cord, this mor- 
bid irritability reflects a perverse influence upon the 
whole nervous system, and through it upon the entire 
body, producing excessive debility, and that general 
disorder of mind and body of which this class of suffer- 
ers furnish so many conspicuous examples. But we 
need not dwell further upon this point here, as it will be 
more fully elucidated in the treatment of the subject of 
spermatorrhoea. 

Exciting Causes of Diurnal Emissions, — These 
discharges invariably occur, first, during sexual excite- 
ment ; secondly, in connection with defecation, or move- 
ment of the bowels ; thirdly, with micturition, or passage 
of the urine, or immediately after the bladder has been 
emptied. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 463 

In a healthy individual, one who has never been ad- 
dicted to sexual excess of any sort, it is scarcely possible 
that mental influence alone would effect a sufficient degree 
of local excitement to produce the sexual orgasm, accom- 
panied by the seminal discharge ; but persons who have 
injured the sexual organs by any form of excess, and 
particularly masturbators, have thereby weakened the 
nerve centers which control the operations of the body, 
and thus produced such a degree of local irritability that 
much less than the ordinary amount of excitement is 
required to produce the venereal crisis. These individ- 
uals often bring themselves into such a state that even 
the thought of the sexual act is sufficient to produce 
ejaculation. Sometimes, indeed, those who have aban- 
doned themselves to the gratification of their passions, 
having discovered the readiness with which the venereal 
excitement may be produced by lascivious thoughts, 
give themselves up to what may be called " mental mas- 
turbation," by which they are ultimately reduced to the 
lowest possible state of physical and mental degradation. 
At first, the seminal discharge is accompanied by an erec- 
tion ; but after a time, the erections grow more and more 
feeble in character until there is no erection, nor indeed 
other than a very slight degree of sensation. Ultimately, 
in fact, the sensation ceases to be in any degree pleasur- 
able, becoming only a slight burning, or of a decidedly 
painful character. Some of these victims of lust become 
at last reduced to such a state that the mere sight of a 
passing female or a painting or bust of a female figure 
will produce ejaculation, though not accompanied by 
either erection or sensation. In some cases, discharges 
occur several times a day, keeping the individual in a 



464 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

wretched state of mind and body by the terribly ex- 
hausting drain upon his vital forces. 

The author has met a few cases in which the ejacu- 
lation resulted not from the excitement of sexual 
thoughts > but from some physical or mechanical cause. 
From personal observation, we should say that in 
cases in which seminal discharges are produced by the 
causes named, the individual has usually been addicted 
to some form of sexual vice. In fact, it hardly seems 
possible that ejaculations should be produced by such 
slight causes, unless the organs have been previously 
weakened by abuse. In cases in which there have been 
great sexual excesses, the organs sometimes become so 
weakened that ejaculations may result from so slight a 
degree of mechanical excitement as the jolting of riding 
over a pavement in a wagon, or even the jarring of a 
railway car. 

The discharge which occurs in connection with defe- 
cation is usually the result of constipation of the bowels. 
The exertion required to expel a large, dry stool, or 
the pressure of the faeces upon the seminal vesicles, 
squeezes out a few drops of viscid fluid, which may or 
may not contain spermatozoa. That spermatozoa are 
generally present in the seminal vesicles is rendered 
probable by the results of numerous examinations made 
and reported by competent observers, though the use of 
the seminal vesicles as a reservoir for seminal fluid is 
questioned by some modern authorities. The truth 
probably is that these sack-like structures serve the 
double purpose of receiving and retaining the spermato- 
zoa, and forming a secretion which acts as a vehicle for 
them. It is probable that spermatozoa are sometimes 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS 465 

present and sometimes absent from the seminal vesicles, 
according to the degree of activity of the testicles. 

Usually, the discharge occurring at stool is entirely 
without sensation ; but it is sometimes accompanied by 
a slight burning or a peculiar sensation, somewhat ap- 
proaching in character, though different from, that ac- 
companying normal ejaculation. We have met a single 
instance in which the regular seminal ejaculation occurred 
in connection with defecation. In this case, it was due 
to a high degree of intestinal irritation, accompanied by 
a strong desire to relieve the bowels, which force of cir- 
cumstances made it necessary to restrain by a powerful 
effort of the will. 

Diurnal emissions are probably most frequent in 
connection with the passage of urine. The discharge 
may occur either before or after the escape of the urine, 
or it may be mixed with the urine. In order to discover 
the relation of the discharge to the urinary act, it is the 
author's custom to instruct the patient to obtain three 
specimens of urine in separate bottles. The first should 
consist of the first two ounces passed, the second, of an 
equal quantity of the middle portion, and the third, of the 
very last portion of the urine expelled from the bladder. 

When spermatozoa are found only in the first urine 
passed, the indication is either that a few spermatozoa 
had been left in the urethra after a nocturnal emission 
or normal coitus, or that a small quantity had found its 
way from the ejaculatory ducts into the urethra, proba- 
bly the result of a relaxed condition of the orifices of 
these ducts. 

When spermatozoa are found in the last portion of 
urine expelled from the bladder, probably they will have 

30 



466 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

been pressed out of the vesiculse seininales, or the ejacu- 
latory ducts, by the concluding efforts of expulsion. 

Spermatozoa found in the middle portion of the urine, 
indicate that a discharge of seminal fluid has taken place 
into the bladder. This symptom signifies a very grave 
state of affairs. It is often the result of interrupting 
the ejaculation after it has begun, by compression of the 
penis, so that the seminal fluid is prevented from being 
discharged. The normal outlet being obstructed, the 
semen is forced back into the bladder. Young men who 
are ignorant of the consequences, and who suppose the 
injuries resulting from seminal emissions and self-abuse 
are caused by the loss of seminal fluid, sometimes adopt 
this means of preventing the discharge, supposing that 
in so doing they are preventing the loss of semen, 
whereas they are simply delaying its discharge by 
forcing it back into the bladder. The great amount of 
harm resulting from this practice should be thoroughly 
understood. The practice of ligating the penis for the 
purpose of preventing nocturnal losses, should be also 
equally condemned. 

Discharges connected with the first and last portions 
of urine usually appear as a few drops of opaque, and 
usually viscid fluid, squeezed out after the last portion 
of urine has passed. When the seminal fluid is passed 
back into the bladder, and mixed with the urine, its 
presence in the urine will not be indicated to the naked 
eye unless the quantity is very large, which is seldom 
the case. The whitish deposit which appears in the 
urine immediately after it is passed, or after it has 
been standing for some time in a vessel, almost always 
consists either of urates, phosphates, or mucus from the 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 467 

bladder. The relative frequency of the occurrence of 
these three substances is in the order mentioned. The 
exact nature of the deposit cannot be ^determined with- 
out a careful microscopic examination, though if care- 
fully applied, the following tests will often suffice : — 

If a whitish deposit settles flat in the vessel, it is 
probably made up of phosphates or urates. If shreds of 
a whitish color float up into the urine above the deposit, 
it is undoubtedly composed, in part at least, of mucus. 
Urates and phosphates may usually be distinguished by 
the fact that urates only appear when the urine is cold, 
while the phosphates will be observed as soon as the 
urine has time to settle, and before cooling takes place. 
When present in considerable quantities, the phosphates 
often give to the urine a milky appearance when 
passed, which frequently leads to the supposition that 
large quantities of seminal fluid are escaping in this man- 
ner, whereas careful examination may show that the 
urine does not contain a single spermatozoon. When 
the deposit is composed of urates, it may be made to dis- 
appear entirely by simply reheating the urine. Phos- 
phates will not disappear by heating, but are quickly 
dissolved by adding to the urine a quantity of strong 
vinegar or any acid. 

Persons who have been addicted to sexual excesses, 
are often led to believe that their condition is even 
more serious than it is by the observation of these de- 
posits in the urine. While we would not say anything 
that would comfort these individuals to such an extent 
as to encourage them to continue their abuses, a desire 
to present the subject in a fair light leads us to repeat 
what has already been said, that these deposits are very 



468 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

rarely of a seminal character, and that it is. only in the 
very rarest cases that spermatozoa are found in the 
urine in sufficient quantities to be apparent to the eye, 
except by the aid of a very powerful microscope. 

Results of Diurnal Emissions. — Some of the con- 
sequences of these abnormal discharges have already 
been intimated. The results of their long continuance 
may be summarized as follows : — 

1. General nervous exhaustion, accompanied by all 
the mental and nervous symptoms of sexual neurasthenia, 
or nervous debility, which have already been pointed 
out, and need not be repeated here. The patient is 
usually given to despondency, sometimes being driven 
almost to distraction by his mental suffering, a great 
share of which is undoubtedly the result of a morbid im- 
agination, which has become diseased by allowing the mind 
to dwell upon the abnormal conditions, closely watching 
and exaggerating every symptom, and attributing every 
morbid sensation to the one symptom which he believes 
to be the foundation and cause of all his troubles. 

2. Various disorders of digestion, which arise partly 
from a morbid mental state and partly from the phys- 
ical exhaustion resulting from the constant drain upon 
the body. It is possible, also, that the reflex influence 
of the local irritation upon the nerve centers which pre- 
side over the digestive organs, may have something to 
do with producing the obstinate dyspepsia which is fre- 
quently found in these cases, and to which much of the 
physical debility may be fairly attributed, though 
usually charged entirely to the unnatural losses. 

3. Various disorders of the bladder, particularly, fre- 
quent and painful or difficult urination. A very fre- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 469 

quent symptom is smarting at the beginning of the 
act, and a persistent dribbling, which continues for some 
time after the greater portion of the - urine has been 
expelled from the bladder. The latter symptom is due 
to the relaxed condition of the muscles about the neck 
of the bladder, by reason of which they fail to contract 
promptly at the close of the act. This symptom is 
usually indicative of a similar condition of the muscles 
which guard the mouths of the ejaculatory ducts, by 
reason of which the seminal fluid is allowed to escape in 
a similar way whenever the vesiculse seminales become 
overfall, a condition likely to be constant in these cases 
in consequence of the excited state of the testicles aris- 
ing from erotic thoughts. 

4. As the most constant of all the results of this 
morbid condition, must be mentioned the weakening of 
the sexual organs themselves. The functional ability of 
the sexual organs is confined within narrower limits than 
that of any other class of organs in the body. A fre- 
quent or continuous drain upon their vitality soon im- 
pairs their natural vigor, and weakens them, often to 
such an extent that perfect restoration to healthy activ- 
ity becomes impossible. An individual who is subject 
to diurnal emissions is already well advanced on the 
road to complete impotence, and should place himself in 
the hands of a physician competent to deal with his case 
in such a manner as it may require. Cases of this sort, 
in which the discharge consists chiefly of seminal fluid, 
were once considered jDractically hopeless ; but modern 
advances in the methods employed in treating this for- 
midable form of sexual disease, give the skillful physi- 
cian means of relief which afford a fair prospect of a 
cure, if properly and perseveringly employed. 



470 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

Treatment. — The treatment of the graver forms of 
diurnal emissions, in which there is actual loss of seminal 
fluid, requires the personal attention of a physician 
skilled in the treatment of this class of maladies, and 
these cases cannot be considered proper subjects for 
home treatment. However, the observance of the prin- 
ciples laid down in this work, and the specific directions 
which are given, will do much to mitigate the symptoms 
arising from the disease, and to check its progress. The 
lighter forms of the malady, those in which the discharge 
consists of simply a prostatic fluid or mucus from the 
vesicles, may often be substantially relieved by the 
employment of such simple measures as can be used 
without the superintendence of a physician. The most 
essential of these measures are the following : — 

1. The tepid sitz bath. This may be taken as 
directed for the treatment of nocturnal emissions. 

2. The employment of such means as will secure 
proper activity of the bowels. A wet bandage worn at 
night, as elsewhere directed, the liberal use of fruits, 
the practice of kneading and percussing the bowels sev- 
eral times daily, careful attention to the moving of the 
bowels at a regular time each day, and if necessary, 
the use of the enema to soften the contents of the bow- 
els, and secure a daily evacuation, are means which are 
to be particularly recommended. With reference to the 
last-named measure, the enema, it should be remarked, 
however, that its habitual use is to be condemned. It 
should be employed only when the bowels cannot be 
made to act without its use, or when the contents of the 
bowels are so hard and dry as to require great straining 
at stool, which should be carefully avoided in those cases 
in which discharges occur at stool. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 471 

3. In cases in which the discharge is due to disease 
of the prostatic portion of the urethra, it is usually 
accompanied by an irritable condition of the prostate 
gland. For the relief of this condition, the hot enema 
and other measures recommended in the treatment for 
" irritable prostate " should be employed. 

4. The diet should be unstimulating, free from con- 
diments and stimulating foods of all kinds. Tobacco, 
alcoholic liquors, and tea and coffee should be strictly 
avoided. An abundance of exercise should be taken 
daily, and the patient should avoid violent muscular ex- 
ertion, such as jumping, etc. Horseback riding is also 
to be condemned when it produces local irritation or 
excitement, which is usually the case. 

5. The mind should be kept free from lascivious 
thoughts. Without strict attention to this rule, all 
measures of treatment will be of little avail. 

6. If any cause of local excitement exists, such as a 
long or tight prepuce, varicocele, anal fissure, or fistula, 
these causes should be removed by the necessary treat- 
ment or operation. 

7. In cases in which there is distinct evidence of re- 
laxation of the ejaculatory ducts, the proper application 
of electricity is a measure which often affords most ex- 
cellent results. Faradic electricity, applied directly to 
the diseased parts, one pole being applied to the urethra, 
the other upon the lower portion of the spine over the 
bladder, at the perineum, the testicles, the inner side of 
the thighs, or upon each of these points successively, is 
very useful in restoring the lost tone of the organs, and 
contracting the relaxed ejaculatory ducts. In particular 
cases, the galvanic current is to be preferred to the 



472 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

faradic, though a considerable degree of experience is 
necessary to discriminate between the conditions requir- 
ing the one or the other of these forms of electricity. 

In the employment of galvanic electricity, only a 
very weak current should be used. The application may 
be either external or internal. If external, the positive 
pole should be placed upon the spine about six inches 
above the lower end, while the negative is placed suc- 
cessively upon the perineum, the spermatic cords, the 
testicles, and the penis, being retained about one-half 
minute in each position. The current should be strong 
enough to be perceptibly felt, but not painful. From fifteen 
to twenty cells are usually required for this purpose. 
"When applied internally, the positive pole should be 
placed in the same position on the spine, while the neg- 
ative is applied to a peculiarly constructed electrode 
placed in the urethra. The object of this application is 
to concentrate the current at the mouths of the ejacula- 
tory ducts. This mode of application is likely to produce 
great harm, except in skillful hands, and should never 
be employed by the patient or by a novice. In obstinate 
cases, especially those in which there is loss of sensation 
in the organs, static or dynamic electricity may be prop- 
erly employed. 

8. We have found various astringent and other ap- 
plications very useful in the treatment of this class of 
cases. As usually employed, they are of very little 
effect, however. We have found them most serviceable 
in connection with the endoscope, an instrument in which 
the whole urethra can be brought into view, and care- 
fully examined under a strong light, and applications 
made directly to the diseased surfaces. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 473 

9. In cases in which the discharge is due to a relaxed 
condition of the ejaculatory ducts, sitz baths should be 
employed at a temperature of about seventy-five or eighty 
degrees, to be taken as directed elsewhere. The length 
of time occupied by the bath should be about ten or fif- 
teen minutes. The cool enema is another excellent 
means of toning up the relaxed muscles. It should be 
taken daily, and the quantity should be about one-half 
pint. The psychrophore, or cooling sound, is also very 
useful in these cases. The cold spinal pour, employed 
by pouring cold water on the lower portion of the spine 
from a dipper, while the patient sits over a tub or some 
other convenient vessel, is an excellent means of stimu- 
lating the nerve centers so as to tone up the relaxed 
organs. After the pour, the spine should be rubbed 
thoroughly, to secure good reaction. 

TRUE SPERMHTORRHER, OR SPERMORRHEH, 

Under this head are included those cases in which 
the seminal discharge is not only involuntary in nocturnal 
emissions, but occurs unconsciously even in the day-time. 
Cases of this sort are among those referred to under the 
head of diurnal emissions, being the gravest class men- 
tioned under that head. The extreme gravity of this 
class of cases renders it important that they should 
receive special attention in a separate chapter. Respect- 
ing the causes of true spermatorrhoea, or spermorrhoea, 
much more might be said than we shall have space to 
offer here, but the following observations we consider 
most important : — 

1. The grave symptoms which accompany this disease 



4:74: MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

are not wholly due to it, but are frequently the result of 
some condition of which the sperniorrhoea is also a symp- 
tom. The most active of constitutional causes are nerv- 
ous exhaustion and general debility. It is frequently 
observed to make its first appearance in an individual 
who has previously suffered with no disease of this sort, 
during a convalescence after an attack of fever or during 
the insipient stages of tuberculous diseases or consump- 
tion, when the vital powers are somewhat enfeebled, 
though the sexual organs are still active. There is 
undoubtedly, in some persons, a constitutional tendency 
to this disease. It is quite possible that men who have 
suffered in this way themselves, transmit to their chil- 
dren a predisposition to the same malady. Certain it is 
that in some individuals very slight excesses will give 
rise to this affection, while others seem to be almost 
proof against it, indulging for many years, with appar- 
ent impunity, in excesses of the grossest character, al- 
though the penalty of their transgressions is certain to 
be inflicted in later years, in some of the most distress- 
ing forms of sexual disease. 

2. It has been noticed that there is some relation be- 
tween this disorder and epilepsy and insanity. An in- 
quiry into the family history of persons suffering in this 
way will often reveal the fact that one or more near rel- 
atives have been affected with epilepsy, or some form of 
mental disease, and the individuals thus suffering are 
themselves not infrequently epileptic, or affected with 
some phase of mental disease, though usually in a mild 
form, and nearly all are of an exceedingly excitable tem- 
perament. In the early history of these cases, it will 
frequently be found that when very young, they were 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 475 

afflicted with incontinence of urine, a disease due to an ir- 
ritability the bladder and an abnormally excitable condi- 
tion of the nerve centers controlling its action. In conse- 
quence of this state of the bladder, during sleep, when the 
restraining influence of the mind cannot be brought to 
bear upon the spinal centers which induce the bladder to 
contract, when full, and empty itself of its contents, these 
centers, being abnormally excitable, are induced to cause 
contraction of the bladder and expulsion of its contents 
before the organ becomes sufficiently full to provoke such 
an action of the controlling nerve centers in a healthy 
person. 

On attaining puberty, when the sexual functions be- 
come active, and the seminal secretion first makes its 
appearance, this abnormal activity is transferred from 
the bladder to the sexual organs, resulting in nocturnal 
pollutions, which are substituted for the previous urinary 
discharge. This sort of substitution is particularly lia- 
ble to occur in cases in which masturbation, or any other 
form of sexual abuse, has been indulged in, or if the sex- 
ual organs have been prematurely excited by erotic 
thoughts ; but we have met cases in which the losses 
began to occur about the age of puberty, in which we 
could discover no evidence that any form of sexual abuse 
had ever existed. In these cases the disorder was prob- 
ably due to a disordered condition of the general system. 

3. Sexual excesses are undoubtedly by far the most 
common and powerful causes of this affection. These 
include not only marital excesses, but masturbation, 
"mental masturbation," and all forms of sexual vice. 
According to the statements of French veterinarians, 
stallions that are brought in contact with mares, but not 



476 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

allowed to " cover " them, are frequently subject to this 
disease, which demonstrates the fact already hinted, that 
excitement of the genital organs, through allowing the 
mind to dwell upon sexual subjects, may produce the 
very worst results of sexual abuse. 

How Sexual Abuse Produces Spermorrhcea. — Dur- 
ing sexual excitement, the entire sexual organs are sub- 
ject to the most intense congestion, during which the 
blood-vessels are enormously dilated, and subjected to a 
high degree of tension. If this overwhelming tension 
occurs frequently, the blood-vessels of the parts become 
relaxed so that they retain continually too large a 
quantity of blood. In other words, they become chron- 
ically congested. This condition results in the produc- 
tion of too large a quantity of seminal fluid, in conse- 
quence of which the seminal vesicles become overloaded, 
producing an unpleasant sensation and fullness in the 
parts, or erethism, which is usually accompanied by 
erections, calling attention to the parts and giving rise 
to erotic thoughts, which still further aggravates the 
difficulty. In the urethra, particularly the prostatic 
portion, which contains the orifices of the ejaculatory 
ducts, the mucous membrane becomes the seat of 
chronic congestion, which renders it abnormally sensi- 
tive. The urine, which normally does not affect the 
urethral membrane at all injuriously, causes smarting 
and burning of this sensitive portion ; and thus when- 
ever the bladder is relieved, an aggravation of the 
condition occurs. The long-continued irritation pro- 
duces, ultimately, a semi-paralyzed condition of the 
muscles which close the orifices of the ejaculatory 
ducts, in consequence of which the seminal fluid is 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 477 

allowed to escape whenever the erections occur, and with- 
out the ordinary ejaculatory act. In the worst con- 
ditions, the semen sometimes even dribbles away con- 
tinually. As is the case with the nasal mucous mem- 
brane, and mucous membrane in other parts of the 
body, the long-continued congestion gives rise to thick- 
ening. In consequence, the urinary canal is lessened 
in caliber. At first, the thickening is simply a swell- 
ing, which is readily overcome by the force exerted 
in relieving the bladder ; but after a time, the thicken- 
ing becomes permanent, and then partial, or even com- 
plete stricture is produced. 

The irritation sometimes extends to the seminal 
vessels, producing catarrh of these parts, and some- 
times a gleety discharge, in consequence of which the 
seminal fluid becomes vitiated and diseased, even to 
such a degree as to produce sterility. The inflamma- 
tion may even extend down into the testicles, produc- 
ing disease of these organs, accompanied by neuralgiac 
pains, and often inflammatory processes followed by de- 
generations, in consequence of which the testicles grad- 
ually soften and waste away. The spermatic veins, 
particularly those of the left side, frequently become 
enormously enlarged, producing varicocele with its nu- 
merous inconveniences. The local irritation not infre- 
quently extends up into the bladder, causing irritabil- 
ity of the bladder and often catarrh of this organ. 
In one case, at the post mortem examination of which 
the author was present in Bellevue Hospital in New 
York City, the irritation set up in this way had ex- 
tended not only into the bladder, but through the 
ureters into the kidneys, finally resulting in death, 
after many years of horrible suffering. 



478 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

But the changes produced in the genital and urinary 
organs are not the only results of excess, nor indeed 
are they the most important. The sexual organs are 
governed by nerve centers placed at the lower portion 
of the spinal cord. The secretion of semen by the 
testicles, and its discharge through erection and ejacu- 
lation, are under control of these nerve centers. Erec- 
tions may occur as the result of the stimulation of 
these centers by the mind through erotic thoughts, or 
by reflex irritation arising from the organs themselves, 
or from contiguous parts, as in irritations of the rectum 
from piles, fissure, etc. The irritation resulting from 
the congestion caused by frequent sexual excitements, 
keeps the nerve centers in a state of constant activity, 
so that erections occur much more frequently than 
would otherwise be the case, and the testicles are stim- 
ulated to secrete an abnormal amount of seminal fluid, 
which, though increased in quantity, is greatly deterio- 
rated in quality. The nerve centers themselves, being 
weakened by continual excitement and constant drain 
upon them, lose their normal tone ; that is, they are 
brought into a condition in which they are unable to 
accumulate the proper amount of nervous energy, but 
are by very slight causes induced to spend the little 
nervous energy accumulated, in prolonged erections or 
even ejaculations. During sleep, the general nerve tone 
and the tone of the sexual centers is still lower than 
during wakefulness. It is on this account that seminal 
losses occur during sleep, from dreams, even though the 
same amount of sexual excitement would not produce 
erections when awake. The nerve tone gradually goes 
lower and lower, as the disease advances, until it 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 479 

finally reaches a point at which ejaculation is allowed 
to occur during sleep from so slight a degree of excite- 
ment as that arising from fullness of the bladder, or the 
slight overheating of the spine from lying upon the 
back. 

Only one step farther in the lowering of the nerve 
tone of the controlling nerve centers is required to pro- 
duce involuntary discharges when awake. Still another 
advance, and the discharges occur with very feeble erec- 
tions, and finally with no erection at all, and only a 
slight sensation. The seminal fluid, the most precious 
of all the secretions of the body, is now allowed to drib- 
ble away upon the slightest provocation, continually 
wasting the vital forces, and undermining the bodily 
powers until the man, once noble and intelligent, is 
reduced to a mere semblance of humanity, and is ruined, 
physically, mentally, and morally. 

Of local causes, the most important are irritation of 
the bladder and urethra, which may be either primary, or 
the result of gonorrhoea, inflammation of the seminal vesi- 
cles, long and tight prepuce, accumulation of secretion 
about the glans, constipation of the bowels, and the 
condition known as varicocele, or enlargement of the 
spermatic veins. 

Symptoms. — Among other symptoms of spermator- 
rhoea which have not been mentioned in the above 
description of morbid conditions, we enumerate the 
following : — 

A dull aching in the lower part of the back, usually 
termed by patients " the small of the back," particularly 
in the morning, or after making muscular exertions, and 
always aggravated by seminal discharges ; stiffness of 



480 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the limbs and want of muscular endurance; weakness 
of the knees, numbness, and strange sensations in the 
arms and legs ; muscular twitching ; pressure at the 
back of the nead ; numbness of the spine ; numbness or 
abnormal irritability and sensitiveness in various parts 
of the body ; dry and pasty skin ; baldness ; headache ; 
loss of memory ; dullness of apprehension ; general loss 
of mental capacity, and incompetence to sustain any 
prolonged mental effort, particularly after the occur- 
rence of an emission ; shortness of breath ; dizziness ; 
blurring of the sight ; noise in the ears, and temporary 
deafness ; hesitancy and stuttering speech ; constriction 
or oppression in the chest; heart-burn, sour stomach, 
feeling of weight at the stomach, constipation, and other 
symptoms of dyspepsia; great depression of spirits, 
sometimes even amounting to insanity, with a tendency 
to suicide ; unsteadiness of gait ; coldness in the extrem- 
ities ; wandering pains about the body ; loss of confi- 
dence ; palpitation of the heart ; flushing of the face ; 
emaciation ; pain in the side ; tenderness of the spine ; 
loss of erectile power, resulting in impotence ; coldness, 
numbness, or loss of natural sensation in the sexual 
organs : relaxed or shunken condition of the sexual 
organs ; blueness of the organs ; tenderness or dragging 
sensation in the testicles ; pain in the spermatic cord or 
the groin ; unnatural softness or tenderness of the testi- 
cles ; smarting or burning on urinating ; dribbling after 
urination ; muscular twitching in the perineum, or fork 
of the thighs ; unnatural excitability of the organs, as 
indicated by frequent, painful, or prolonged erection s 
without erotic thoughts. 

If an individual has inherited any tendency to in- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 481 

sanity, epilepsy, locomotor ataxia, or paralysis, he is 
pretty likely to lapse into some of these conditions. 
The ultimate results of spermatorrhoea are the most 
disastrous possible. It is true, the patient does not 
often die of the disease itself, but the terrible drain upon 
his vital powers develops some constitutional malady, 
or so weakens his vital capacity as to lay him open to 
the attack of some acute disease, by which his mis- 
erable existence is ended. Consumption is exceedingly 
common among these victims of sensuality. We have 
met a number of instances of consumption in which the 
disease was evidently the result of the weakening influ- 
ence of spermatorrhoea. Insanity, epilepsy, dyspepsia, 
rheumatism, apoplexy, and nearly every disease, in 
fact, to which human flesh is heir, may occur as the 
secondary result of spermorrhoea. 

Treatment. — The illustrious French physician, Lalle- 
mand, was the first to give to this disease the attention 
and thorough scientific investigation required to establish 
its treatment upon rational principles. His success at- 
tracted the attention of scientific physicians in every part 
of the world, and the interest excited in this malady, 
previously considered all* but incurable, has developed 
means and methods of treatment which are efficient in 
the great majority of cases in restoring the patient to com- 
fortable, if not perfect health. Many cases are suscep- 
tible of a perfect cure. These are those in which the 
malady has not existed for so great a length of time as to 
produce extensive degeneration of the parts. The most 
readily curable cases are those in which the disease is 
dependent upon some morbid physical condition which 
can be promptly removed, as a long or tight foreskin, 

31 



4S2 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

piles, or varicocele, which may be removed by the proper 
surgical treatment. Fortunately, these cases constitute 
quite a large proportion of the entire number of sufferers 
from this malady. 

The cases which are the most difficult to cure, and 
in which a restoration to health is least likely to be com- 
plete, are those in which the disease is wholly the result 
of long-continued sexual excesses, particularly repeated 
self-abuse, and mental masturbation. When the prac- 
tice has been continued long enough to produce great 
weakness of the sexual powers, and serious impairment 
of the general health, it is not probable that the sexual 
vigor can be perfectly restored, though the general 
health may be built up to such a degree as to render 
the patient able to engage in the ordinary duties of life. 
Indeed, the improvement in some of the worst of these 
cases is something remarkable when a thorough-going 
course of rational methods can be instituted and faith- 
fully carried out. The greatest thing in the way of 
recovery is the inability of the patient to co-operate with 
the wise physician in his efforts to rescue him from the 
results of his evil practices. Failure to control the mind 
is one of the greatest impediments in the way of a cure. 
The patient should understand thoroughly that unless 
he can accomplish this, the most skillful treatment 
possible can do him no good. His recovery, if it is 
secured, will be largely the result of his own efforts. 
If his will-power is so weakened, and his self-control so 
destroyed, that he cannot purify his mind from lasciv- 
ious thoughts, his case is a hopeless one. Some degree 
of improvement may be secured, but recovery is im- 
possible. 



DISEASES OF TEE SEXUAL ORGANS. 483 

The measures of treatment to be employed in the 
management of spennorrhoea are essentially the same as 
those enumerated for the relief of sexual nervous debil- 
ity, nocturnal emissions, and diurnal emissions, the 
symptoms and morbid conditions of all three of these 
disorders being present in this disease. This being the 
case, we need not recapitulate what has been said re- 
specting the treatment under the three heads mentioned, 
but will refer the reader to the sections named for direc- 
tions respecting diet, exercise, baths, etc. 

In some cases, it will be found that the discharges 
are provoked by irritability of the bladder, resulting 
from catarrh of this organ, or from rectal irritation aris- 
ing from thread-worms. In these cases, the exciting 
causes must be removed by appropriate treatment. To 
remove thread-worms, adopt such measures as will keep 
the bowels loose and regular, and then inject into the 
bowels two or three quarts of a decoction of quassia 
chips, one-fourth pound to the gallon of water, first 
washing out the bowels by a large enema of warm water, 
together with a little castile soap. 

Many years ago, an eminent French physician, 
Trousseau, invented what is called a prostatic com- 
pressor, which consists of a conical plug placed in the 
rectum in such a way as to compress the ejaculatory 
ducts, being held in position by a bandage. This pre- 
vents the escape of seminal fluid, and may be useful in 
some advanced and incurable cases, in preventing the 
constant escape of semen through the relaxed and open 
mouths of the seminal ducts ; but in most cases it is as 
useless as it is unnecessary. 

We must say one word respecting a method of cure 



484: MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

which has sometimes been resorted to by patients, and 
has occasionally been recommended by physicians. We 
refer to castration. The resort to this extreme means 
is in our opinion unjustifiable and unnecessary, although 
in a single instance we have known the best results to fol- 
low removal of the testicles. In this case, however, we 
have serious doubts whether the effect produced was not 
the result of mental influence more than of the change in 
physical condition produced by the mutilation. 

Marriage. — Physicians are constantly asked by 
young men who are suffering from the results of self- 
abuse, May I marry ? A large number of physicians, 
perhaps a majority, will have already anticipated this 
question by advising the patient to seek a wife as the 
best means of curing his malady. The amount of 
wretchedness, mental and physical, which has resulted 
from this random and hap-hazard advice, is too great to 
be estimated. The author has met scores of married 
men who have expressed the deepest regret that they 
had received and followed such advice. A young man 
who is suffering from sexual disease, wrongs both him- 
self and another by entering the married state. Fre- 
quent seminal losses, as the result of masturbation or 
other sexual abuse, indicate a diseased condition which 
will only be aggravated by marriage. There is no cura- 
tive virtue in the sexual act for one who is already suf- 
fering from the results of sexual excesses ; and if it were 
so, what right has any physician to recommend a man 
to take a wife as he would make any other prescription ? 
What right has a man to seek a wife as he would visit a 
druggist for a bottle of medicine ? Let the young man, 
before he takes such advice from a physician, quietly 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 485 

imagine himself in the place of the woman he may 
marry, acting simply the part of a medical prescription 
to a diseased man. We consider this advice absolutely 
immoral, and the young man who follows it is guilty of 
the grossest disregard of human rights. Any man who 
is suffering from the results of self-abuse, or any other 
sexual excess, has no right to marry until these results 
have been removed by proper treatment or a proper 
course of life. It is true that this cannot always be 
done to the fullest extent, but recovery should be at 
least sufficiently perfect to render marriage in no way 
harmful to the man, and to the woman not simply a pre- 
scription for a diseased husband. 

Bad Medical Advice. — Not infrequently, when a 
young man seeks the advice of a physician for relief 
from nocturnal emissions or some other condition, on 
iDeing advised to marry, demurs, and objects that he is 
not prepared to settle down in life, or that he is 
acquainted with no one whom he desires to marry. 
What advice does he then receive ? Unfortunately, there 
are physicians who are so lost to all sense of propriety 
and purity and so reckless of the interests of their 
fellow-beings that they do not hesitate to advise such a 
young man to " keep a mistress," or even to visit houses 
of prostitution, taking pains to instruct them in all 
the particulars of their conduct in the practice of immor- 
ality. We do not hesitate to say that such men are a 
disgrace and a dishonor to a noble profession. Repeat- 
edly, cases have come to our notice in which young men 
have been led to abandon themselves to a life of infamy 
by such advice, and we have met several cases in which 
the various forms of venereal disease, including that 



486 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

most horrible of all maladies, syphilis, have been con- 
tracted by following the unwise counsel of such unprin- 
cipled physicians. No amount of professional advice 
can make immorality proper, even if it were known that 
real physical advantage might arise therefrom, the very 
opposite of which is wholly likely to be true. 

BISEESES OF THE PROSTATE 

Acute Prostatitis, or Inflammation of the Pros- 
tate. — Acute prostatitis is usually the result of an ex- 
tension of an inflammation of the urethra to this part, as 
in gonorrhoea. It is also sometimes caused by the appli- 
cation of strong injections into the urethra, or rudeness 
in passing sounds ; by inflammation of the bladder ; the 
use of alcoholic drinks, and excessive sexual excitement. 
Exposure of the perineum to cold and dampness, as in 
sitting upon the ground, is also a recognized cause. 

Symptoms. — The first symptoms felt are weight and 
fullness about the* perineum and rectum; slight pain or 
uneasiness at the neck of the bladder ; frequent desire 
to pass water, which is accompanied by more or less 
pain, especially at the conclusion of the act. As the 
disease continues, all the symptoms increase. The pain, 
which is almost continuous, begins to be severe, and 
throbbing or shooting in character. There is a sense of 
great fullness in the part affected, and tenderness about 
all the tissues in the fork of the thighs. Pain in the 
back and loins also becomes prominent as a symptom. 
A sitting position is painful, and nearly all bodily move- 
ments aggravate the suffering. There is pain on moving 
the bowels, difficulty in passing the urine, and chilliness 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 487 



followed by more or less fever. The fingers placed in 
the rectum come in contact with a large, hard bunch, the 
inflamed prostate gland, the vessels of which are felt to 
be throbbing. 

This disease usually terminates in a short time, leav- 
ing the organ enlarged, often permanently, though some- 
times it gradually returns to its natural size. Not in- 
frequently, the inflammation of the prostate becomes 
chronic, and continues for many months or even years. 
The disease is often accompanied by an acute attack of 
piles, between which and prostatitis, both acute and 
chronic, there is a close relation. 

Treatment. — The patient should go to bed, and re- 
main in a horizontal position most of the time during the 
attack. Cool water should be injected into the rectum, 
and retained until warmed, which will be in ten or fifteen 
minutes, and should then be replaced by a fresh supply 
of cold water. Cold applications may also be made to 
the perineum. A hot sitz bath should be taken once or 
twice a day. Once in two hours, the cold applica- 
tions should be replaced by hot fomentations for half an 
hour ; after the inflammation has subsided, poultices of 
starch, flaxseed, or any other non-irritating emollient, 
should be applied continuously. If the urine is retained, 
an effort should be made to pass it while taking a sitz 
bath, which will generally be successful. If the bladder 
is not relieved quite promptly in this way, a physician 
should be employed to pass a catheter. 

A person who is suffering from this disease, is very 
likely to relapse, particularly if he indulges the passions, 
or allows the mind to dwell upon erotic thoughts. After 
recovery occurs, the prostate is found considerably en- 



488 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

larged, and the force of the stream of urine is considera- 
bly lessened in consequence of the obstruction due to the 
enlarged prostate. 

Chronic Inflammation of the Prostate. — In this 
disease, there may be or may not be enlargement of the 
prostate. There is always, however, a greater or less 
degree of irritability, which is accompanied by a dis- 
charge ; difficulty in passing the urine ; cloudiness of the 
urine ; weight and dull pain in the perineum and about 
the rectum; pain in passing water, and in the sexual 
orgasm. Not infrequently, nocturnal emissions or diur- 
nal emissions occur. Irritability of the bladder is also a 
prominent symptom. All these symptoms are aggravated 
by excessive muscular exercise, and errors in diet, par- 
ticularly the use of stimulating foods, as condiments and 
an excessive quantity of meat. Alcoholic liquors and 
the use of tobacco are also highly injurious. 

Treatment. — When slight, this condition is often 
overlooked by the patient, and perhaps does not seriously 
demand treatment, though when accompanied by noctur- 
nal or diurnal emissions, or serious obstruction of the 
urinary passages, this disease should be taken in hand 
without delay, and treated with persevering thoroughness. 
The most effective methods of treatment are those which 
have already been recommended for acute prostatitis, 
though complete rest need not be enforced. The digest- 
ive organs must be kept in good condition. The stools 
should not be allowed to become hard and dry. All 
proper means should be taken to improve the general 
health of the patient, as thereby the advance of the 
disease may be stayed, and much may be done to amel- 
iorate the unpleasant symptoms which it occasions. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 489 

When enlargement exists, this condition should be 
treated as directed in the following section. 

Enlargement of the Prostate. — This condition is one 
which is frequently found present in persons of advanced 
age, even though no previous acute or chronic inflamma- 
tion has existed. It is not a necessary accompaniment 
of old age, however, as cases have frequently been ob- 
served in which it did not exist in individuals who were 
upwards of a hundred years of age. Probably about 
one-third of all men above the age of fifty have pros- 
tates more or less enlarged. Any degree of enlarge- 
ment may exist as from a size slightly larger than that 
of health to a diameter of three or four inches and a 
weight of nearly half a pound. Enlargement of this 
kind as the result of old age, seldom occurs before the 
age of sixty. 

Symptoms. — A considerable degree of enlargement of 
the prostate may take place without any symptoms 
whatever. The first symptom which usually attracts 
the patient's attention, is diminished force in expelling 
the urine, which is soon followed by a sense of obstruc- 
tion when performing the urinary act. The size of the 
stream may be nearly or quite that of health, but it is 
very weak in force. There is a frequent desire to 
urinate, which often occasions serious disturbance of 
sleep. Among other symptoms are weight, fullness, and 
uneasiness in the perineum and rectum, straining efforts 
required in passing water, producing irritation and dis- 
comfort of the rectum. 

If the disease continues, cystitis, or inflammation of 
the bladder, sometimes results. Frequent and some- 
times painful erections occur. The testicles become ten- 



490 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

der and swollen. The bladder is not fully emptied, and 
the urine sometimes gradually accumulates in it, par- 
tially leaking out during sleep, when the voluntary con- 
trol is suspended. There may be a constant overflow of 
urine from the bladder, which is likely, if not carefully 
watched, to become enormously and injuriously dis- 
tended. To prevent such an accident, careful and fre- 
quent examination should be made of the lower part of 
the bowels just above the pubic bone. In a case which 
came under our observation some time ago, the attend- 
ing physician had failed to recognize the existing semi- 
paralyzed condition of the bladder, and the almost com- 
plete urethral obstruction produced by the greatly en- 
larged prostate gland ; and on examination we found the 
bladder was greatly distended, with the upper portion 
reaching nearly to the umbilicus. The introduction of 
the catheter gave instantaneous relief from great suffer- 
ing, which had been endured for several days. 

Very frequently, straining efforts made by the pa- 
tient occasion the passage of a quantity of blood. The 
passage of blood is very likely to occur after exposure 
to cold or sexual excitement. Examination of the urine 
usually shows a considerable quantity of mucus. The 
urine usually has a strong ammoniacal odor, due to its re- 
tention in the bladder until decomposition takes place. 
The general disorder of the bladder and urinary or- 
gans sometimes gives rise to calculus, or stone in the 
bladder. 

The presence of an enlarged prostate can always be 
determined by examination of the rectum with the 
fingers pressed against the anterior wall, when the en- 
larged prostate may be very easily felt. In occasional 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 491 

instances, it will be found to be tender, though in many 
cases it is not abnormally sensitive. 

Treatment. — The treatment of enlarged prostate un- 
fortunately affords very little encouragement of a rad- 
ical cure. All sorts of remedies have been employed for 
the purpose of producing absorption in the enlarged 
part, but with little avail. The most valuable means 
which can be employed in these cases, are revulsive 
applications to the perineum, and the local application of 
electricity. The first means of treatment consists in 
alternate hot and cold applications to the perineum. 
The extremes should be as great as can be tolerated. 
This treatment should be varied by the alternate hot 
and cold pour to the lower portion of the spine. In 
the application of electricity, the faradic current should 
be employed, the positive electrode being placed at the 
lower end of the spine, and the negative in the rectum. 

While little can be done toward effecting a radical 
cure, much can be done to mitigate the symptoms of the 
disease, and delay its progress. If the bladder is incom- 
pletely emptied by its own efforts, the patient should 
learn to use the catheter, habitually washing out the 
bladder daily with a weak solution of salt and water 
at a temperature as warm as can be borne comfortably. 
What is known as the prostatic catheter should be used 
for this purpose, instead of the ordinary metallic catheter, 
which has not a proper curve to pass into the bladder 
without occasioning considerable pain and inconven- 
ience. It has been claimed that the tendency to increas- 
ing obstruction of the canal may be antagonized by 
grasping the end of the penis after the stream of urine 
has started, closing the end of the urethra tightly while 



492 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

continuing to endeavor/ to force urine out, thereby 
filling the urethra, and distending its walls to the utmost. 
This remedy may be serviceable in many cases, and 
worth the trial, but discretion should be used, as it is 
possible to do much harm by violent straining efforts. 
The frequent employment of sitz baths at a temperature 
of ninety-five degrees, is very often a means of great re- 
lief, and not infrequently urine can be passed in a sitz 
bath with perfect ease, though at other times the ob- 
struction is complete. 

Irritable Prostate. — A condition of the prostate in 
which it is sensitive to pressure may be the result of 
chronic or acute inflammation, but most frequently 
comes from sexual excesses of some sort, particularly 
masturbation and marital excesses. In cases of sperm- 
atorrhoea and all forms of involuntary seminal disorders, 
it plays an important part in the maintenance of the 
disorder by producing an abnormal degree of excitability 
of the parts. It is one of the first things which should 
receive attention in the treatment of this class of cases. 
Persons suffering from this condition, complain of smart- 
ing after passing the urine, and sometimes notice a 
heaviness or fullness about the fork of the thighs. 

Treatment. — Frequent warm sitz baths, fomentations 
to the perineum, hot and cold applications to the lower 
part of the spine, and similar methods, are usually effect- 
ive in allaying the irritation, provided the most active 
causes, sexual indulgence and excitement, are abstained 
from entirely. 

Prostatorrhcea, or Prostatic Catarrh. — The charac- 
teristic feature of this disease is a clear, viscid fluid 
which escapes from the urethra, especially after an ereo 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 493 



tion lias occurred, and on urination. The discharge is the 
result of catarrhal disease of the glands of the prostate 
body. This affection is most often the result of mastur- 
bation. It may also be occasioned by sexual excesses of 
any sort, by the inflammation of gonorrhoea, and by 
exposure to cold, resulting in acute prostatitis, which 
leaves behind it this abnormal discharge. These dis- 
charges are very commonly supposed to be seminal in 
character, and give rise to much unnecessary apprehen- 
sion on the part of the patient. It should not be sup- 
posed, however, that the discharge is not significant, or 
a condition which does not demand serious attention. 

Treatment. — The treatment required for these cases 
is essentially the same as that recommended for chronic 
inflammation of the prostate gland. A tight prepuce 
bears an important relation to this disease. It is dis- 
tinctly aggravated by stimulants of all sorts, — tobacco, 
coffee, and irritating condiments, such as pepper, pepper- 
sauce, cayenne, etc. 

STRICTURE. 

By this term is known any narrowing of the urethral 
canal produced either by spasmodic contraction of the 
muscles of the urethra, by the congestion and swelling 
produced by acute inflammation, or by the cicatricial 
contraction resulting from inflammation of the mucous 
membrane of the tissues lying adjacent to it. Stricture 
arising from the first and second causes named is always 
temporary, disappearing as soon as the cause of the 
spasm or inflammation is removed. Obstruction of the 
urethral canal sometimes occurs as the result of swelling 



494 MAN, THE MASTEBPIECE. 

of the prostate, but this cannot properly be termed 
stricture. The amount of stricture varies from a very 
slight narrowing of the urethral canal to such a degree 
of narrowing as to reduce the passage to a mere pin- 
hole. The amount of contraction generally depends 
upon the length of time the disease has existed, as the 
tendency of this disorder is to increase. 

The most common seat of stricture is the back part 
of the canal, just in front of the membranous or prostatic 
portion of the organ, that part known as "the bulb." 
The next most frequent seat is the external orifice of 
some part of the canal within two inches and a half from 
it. It occurs more rarely in the middle portion of the 
passage. The term prostatic stricture is probably a mis- 
nomer, and the result of imperfect observations, as a real 
stricture is never due to enlargement of the prostate, 
though this enlargement may by pressure occlude the 
canal, and render urination impossible. 

Causes. — The most common cause of stricture is in- 
flammation arising from some form of venereal disease, 
usually gonorrhoea, or clap. The inflammation which is 
the cause of stricture is also occasionally the result of 
injury, as from blows upon the perineum which bruise 
or lacerate the urethra. Inflammation is sometimes ex- 
cited by the improper use of surgical instruments in the 
urethra. Strictures produced by mechanical injuries of 
this sort, are the most difficult of all forms to cure. 
Stricture does not usually appear immediately after the 
occurrence of the inflammation by which it is caused, but 
is the result of a gradual contraction of the canal follow- 
ing the inflammation, which may be going on for several 
years without causing sufficient narrowing to call atten- 
tion to it. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. '495 

In some instances, the external orifice of the urethra 
may be naturally too narrow. This difficulty is said 
to be quite frequent among the Jews. ^It is not congen- 
ital with them, however, but is said to arise from the 
irritation caused by exposure of the glans after circum- 
cision. This fact affords a serious objection to the indis- 
criminate employment of circumcision, which has been 
recommended by some as a preventive of venereal 
disorders. 

Another cause of stricture, usually slight, but dis- 
tinct in character, is masturbation. Stricture arising 
from this cause is due to congestion and great irritability 
of the canal set up by the practice. It begins as a spas- 
modic contraction of the urethra, which, if persistent, 
will soon become a permanent or organic contraction, sim- 
ilar in character to that produced by actual inflammation. 
Stricture from this cause is generally located at the back 
part of the urethra, though it may be found at the ante- 
rior extremity. 

Symptoms. — The early symptoms of stricture are a 
slight discharge, pain behind the seat of stricture at the 
time of urinating, frequent urination, and change in the 
form of the stream, which may be twisted, divided, forked, 
or squirting. These changes in the form of the stream 
may be due to swelling of the internal orifice, and not to 
stricture, and hence do not always signify the latter con- 
dition. The act of urination is unnecessarily prolonged, 
and as the stricture increases, it becomes more frequent. 
Great straining is required in urinating, which often re- 
sults in protrusion of the rectum, and pain in the testi- 
cles, back, and lower portion of the abdomen. In some 
cases, retention of the urine is the most prominent symp- 



496 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

torn/ The urine usually undergoes putrefactive changes, 
a portion being retained in the bladder, and the bladder 
becomes congested, producing a catarrhal discharge, 
which appears in the urine as a whitish, tenacious de- 
posit. A film is usually found on the surface, due to the 
presence of phosphates. Blood is sometimes passed with 
the urine, particularly when the catheter is frequently 
employed. Finally, the stricture becomes so tight that 
the urine is passed only in drops. After a time, a con- 
stant dribbling occurs, due to inability of the patient to 
empty the bladder, which becomes filled and constantly 
overflows. The bladder is often found greatly distended 
by urine ; and the violent efforts to empty it sometimes 
result in rupture of the urethra, which may extend from 
the perineum to the scrotum, and even to the tissues 
above the pubis. Great impairment of the general health 
usually accompanies stricture, as loss of flesh, and dis- 
orders of the digestive organs, pain in the back and loins, 
and frequent attacks of chilliness preceded by fever, 
which usually are the result of the use of the catheter. 
These attacks are known as urethral fever. An attack 
of urethral fever may be induced by very slight causes, 
as unskillful passage of the sound, or using an instrument 
a little larger than usual. In some very susceptible 
cases, the most careful use of the catheter will produce 
urethral fever. It is also often caused by strong injec- 
tions. 

Treatment. — The proper treatment of stricture is re- 
moval by dilatation or division. Various methods are 
adopted to meet the requirements of individual cases, 
and a great variety of instruments have been devised for 
this purpose. It is unnecessary to enter into a descrip- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 497 

tion of them, however, as these cases should be under- 
taken only by a skillful physician, and one who has had 
experience in their management. 

PHIMOSIS, 

A narrowing of the prepuce, or foreskin, so that it can- 
not be turned back over the glans penis, is known as 
phimosis. This condition may be congenital, or it may 
be the result of chronic inflammation or irritation. When 
the prepuce /is too long, so that the secretions are re- 
tained, irritation is very likely to arise, which may ulti- 
mately result in contraction to such a degree as to al- 
most entirely close the orifice, producing real stricture. 
The inflammation may be sufficiently intense to cause 
adhesion of the foreskin to the glans. The author has 
met several of these cases in men who were quite ad- 
vanced in years. In one case, neglect on the part of the 
patient, or rather a refusal to submit to the proper treat- 
ment, resulted in death from disease of the bladder, in- 
duced by retention of the urine, and the violent efforts 
required to force it through the narrow opening. Besides 
the retention and bladder irritation which frequently re- 
sult from this condition when the orifice becomes con- 
siderably narrowed, various reflex effects upon the 
muscular system are attributable to this condition, as 
partial paralysis of certain parts of the body, particularly 
the lower extremities. Hysteria, hypochondria, noctur- 
nal pollutions, and even spermatorrhoea, are also attrib- 
utable to this cause. Sometimes the severe straining re- 
quired, produces rupture, or hernia. This result is most 
likely to occur in cases of congenital phimosis. 

32 



498 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Treatment. — If the contraction is not so great as to 
render it impossible, draw the foreskin back over the 
glans, and carefully cleanse the parts with a little soap 
and water, after which apply a little olive-oil at first 
while the parts are sensitive. Retain the foreskin re- 
tracted behind the glans for a short time, and then return 
it. When very tight, the retention of the foreskin be- 
hind the glans for a great length of time might result in 
swelling so that it could not be returned, a condition 
which is known as paraphimosis. This procedure should 
be employed daily, and gradually the foreskin will be 
stretched until it can be retained behind the glans with- 
out danger a considerable portion of the time, and the 
difficulty will be overcome. 

In cases in which the orifice is a little more con- 
tracted, relief may be obtained by forcibly stretching it 
with an instrument made for the purpose. This may be 
done so gradually that little or no pain will be experi- 
enced. 

Cireumeision. — When the contraction is so great 
that the orifice is scarcely larger than the urethra, cir- 
cumcision or a similar operation will be required. Cir- 
cumcision consists in cutting off a portion of the foreskin, 
or prepuce. In performing the operation, the foreskin 
is grasped, and drawn out as much as possible, and then 
cut off close to the glans. The mucous membrane is 
then divided, and attached to the skin by stitches. This 
operation is by no means necessary in all cases. In the 
majority of cases, simple division of the foreskin, as 
shown in Fig. 3, Plate E, is all the operation required. 
A few stitches are placed in such a way as to retain the 
edges of the mucous membrane and the skin together, 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 499 

and healing takes place in three or four days. We have 
performed this operation many times with most satisfac- 
tory results, and consider it preferable i:o the ordinary 
method of circumcision. The operation, of course, will be 
attempted by no one but a competent physician. We 
have sometimes employed for division of the foreskin a 
gum-elastic ligature. By means of a needle, a piece of 
elastic cord is passed under the foreskin, penetrating the 
skin at a point just behind the glans on the upper side 
of the penis. The two ends of the cord are then 
tied, considerable traction being made. The continued 
pressure of the elastic cord causes absorption to take 
place ; and in the course of a few days, the skin will be 
cut through with very little pain, and without the loss 
of a drop of blood. This method is of course more suit- 
able for use in cases of the disease in young boys in 
whom the skin and membrane are thin and delicate. 

PMEPHIMOSIS, 

In this condition, the glans is strangulated by means 
of the tightness of the foreskin, which is drawn back 
behind it. It may be the result of inflammation or 
swelling of the foreskin from chanchroid, or gonorrhoea. 
Persons suffering with tight prepuce should be careful 
not to leave it behind the glans sufficiently long to 
allow swelling to occur, as by so doing the swelling may 
become so great that it cannot be returned. In severe 
cases, quite an inflammation may occur, and also de- 
struction of the parts by sloughing. 

Treatment. — The swelling of the parts should be 
first removed by treatment, as by applications of ice, or 



500 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

cloths wrung out of ice-water, or by a stream of cold 
water poured upon the parts. When the swelling is 
decreased as much as possible, which may be considered 
the case after employing the measures suggested for 
twenty or thirty minutes, an attempt should be made 
to bring the prepuce over the glans. To accomplish this, 
the penis should be grasped between the fore and middle 
fingers of each hand, the thumbs of the hands looking 
upward. Now bring the ends of the two thumbs against 
the glans, and carefully but steadily compress it in such 
a way as to force it through the constriction, and draw 
the foreskin forward. Failing in this, the following 
method should be resorted to : — 

Wet a piece of linen two or three inches in width 
and six inches in length. Wrap around the penis in 
such a way that a portion protrudes in front. Now 
wind around the part an elastic cord, placing the cord 
first around the portion of linen projecting in front of the 
penis. Wind the cord evenly, as thread is wound upon 
a spool, and quite tightly, to produce a firm compres- 
sion. It should be wound slowly, so as to allow the 
parts to contract. Gradually carry the winding over 
the entire swollen portion. After retaining it in position 
two or three minutes, rapidly remove, and if the swell- 
ing is not sufficiently reduced, apply the cord again 
before it has time to return. By so doing, the swelling 
can be gradually brought down until the prepuce may 
be readily restored by the fingers used in the manner 
already described. If the last method fails, a surgeon 
should be consulted, who will, if necessary, divide the 
foreskin at the point of constriction. 



DISEASES OF TEE SEXUAL ORGANS. 501 

B3LENITIS. 

From neglect to cleanse the parts in cases of 
gonorrhoea, and in some instances from the irritation of 
the urine when the prepuce is long, the mucous mem- 
brane lining the foreskin and covering the glans some- 
times becomes the seat of an acute inflammation, known 
as balanitis. This disease is liable to occur in persons 
who have a long and rather tight foreskin. 

The symptoms are a severe itching or burning in 
the region of the glans, sometimes attended by erections 
and great sexual excitement. The foreskin is reddened 
and swollen, sometimes very greatly. A considerable 
amount of yellowish or whitish discharge occurs, which 
has a very disagreeable odor. 

Treatment. — The most essential measure of treat- 
ment is simple cleanliness. The parts should be care- 
fully cleansed with soft water, or a little soap may be 
added, after which a little linen or lint dipped in simply 
cold water or in lime-water may be placed between the 
foreskin and the glans. If there is much secretion, a 
solution of zinc, alum, or tannin, consisting of half a 
dram to the pint of water, ' should be applied to the 
affected surfaces each day, after careful cleansing, and 
the lint placed between the prepuce and the glans should 
be kept saturated with the same solution. If the fore- 
skin is so tight that proper cleansing of the parts cannot 
be effected, the opening should be increased by stretch- 
ing. This may be accomplished by means of a sponge 
tent, — a piece of sponge which has been dried under 
pressure, or by the use of an instrument for the purpose. 



502 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

If the trouble is not relieved by the means suggested, a 
physician should be consulted. 

Chronic inflammation of the foreskin frequently re- 
sults in thickening and contraction, by which the orifice 
of the prepuce becomes very small, and the tissues 
acquire almost the consistency of gristle. In cases in 
which the trouble is intense, the prepuce becomes 
attached to the glans. These cases, of course, require a 
surgical operation. 

HERPES OF THE FORESKIN. 

This disease is characterized by the appearance of 
small blisters upon the mucous membrane of the fore- 
skin. There is usually intense redness, considerable 
swelling, and much itching or burning. 

Treatment. — The disease usually lasts but a few 
days, and a speedy cure may be effected by taking care 
to keep the parts thoroughly cleansed and protected 
from friction. A lotion of zinc or alum, three or four 
grains to the ounce, may be employed three or four 
times a day with advantage. Dry powders, as starch 
to which oxide of zinc or tannin has been added in pro- 
portion of one grain to the ounce, may often be used to 
better advantage than lotions. 

YEEEREHL WHETS. 

The so-called venereal warts (Fig. 4, Plate E) are 
warty growths, which occur upon the glans or the foreskin, 
the character of which, however, does not differ from 
that of warts appearing upon other parts of the body. 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 503 

They are simply papillary growths, the characteristic 
appearance of which is due to the peculiarity of the 
tissues from which they grow. They are not really 
venereal in character, as they sometimes occur in persons 
who have never been exposed to any venereal disease. 
They usually come from the irritation resulting from 
an ichorous discharge, and are of course favored by 
discharges present in venereal diseases. They are, 
however, thought to be contagious. 

Treatment. — These growths must be destroyed by 
the galvano-cautery, the hot iron, or strong caustics, 
as nitric acid, chromic acid, etc. They are very apt to 
return, sometimes requiring removal several times to 
render the cure perfect. After removal, the parts 
should be kept dry, and free from irritating discharges. 

IMFLMMETION OF THE TESTICLE, OR ORCHITIS, 

Inflammation of the entire testicle is comparatively 
a rare disease, though its occurrence is sufficiently fre- 
quent to deserve mention here. The inflammation may 
be either acute, chronic, or scrofulous. We shall give 
attention to the first only of these three forms of 
disease. 

Acute inflammation of the testicle may result from 
a blow or a cold, though it most frequently occurs in 
cases of mumps, particularly about the conclusion of 
the disease. It occurs about twice in every hundred 
cases of mumps. It most frequently appears in boys 
who are about the age of puberty. The whole testi- 
cle may be involved, or only that part known as the 
epididymis. Recovery usually occurs without injury 



504: MAX, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

to the organ, except that it is liable to subsequent 
attacks, though quite frequently the inflammation is 
followed by atrophy, or shrinking of the testicle. 

Epididymitis. — A disease known as epididymitis, or 
inflammation of the epididymis, so closely resembles in- 
flammation of the testicle that it is not likely to be dis- 
tinguished from the latter ; and as the two diseases are 
treated in the same manner, they will be considered to- 
gether. This disease is much more serious in character, 
as permanent damage may be done by obstruction of 
the seminal ducts, which pass through the epididymis. 
The occurrence of this disease in both testicles is likely 
to result in sterility through obstruction of the seminal 
ducts. 

Symptoms. — The chief symptom of inflammation of 
the testicle is swelling of the parts, accompanied by 
pain. This symptom is sometimes preceded by pain 
in the groin, which may extend to the perineum, but- 
tocks, and front of the thighs. The testicle is tender 
as well as swollen, the tenderness often extending 
into the groin. The pain is of a peculiar sickening 
character. Pain in the back is also a prominent symp- 
tom. After a time, the skin of the scrotum becomes 
red and tense, if the swelling continues. When the 
inflammation subsides, some tenderness and considerable 
swelling are usually left. This generally disappears in 
a few days, but sometimes the testicle remains en- 
larged and hardened. By proper treatment, however, 
these results are not likely to occur. 

Treatment. — As soon as the patient discovers pain 
in the groin and tenderness along the spermatic cord, he 
should immediately go to bed, and remain there until 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 505 

the pain and soreness have subsided. If this course 
is pursued, together with the treatment which will be 
directed, the disease may disappear in a few hours, 
though it is not impossible that it may continue several 
days. Imprudence at the start is likely to prolong the 
malady for several weeks, and ultimately occasion the 
loss of the testicle. A hot pack, vapor bath, hot-air 
bath, or some other form of sweating bath, should be 
taken at the outset. The patient should be wrapped in 
woolen blankets after the bath, and carefully protected 
from chilling. As soon as active perspiration begins, 
the pain, which is sometimes quite severe, will usually 
subside. 

The diet should be very light, consisting chiefly of 
fruits, grains, and milk. The bowels should be kept 
open by copious enemas daily. If necessary, a little 
salt or soap may be added to the water to secure 
thorough defecation. The testicle should be supported 
by means of a bandage constructed thus : Place around 
the waist a bandage about three or four inches in width. 
Fold a handkerchief cornerwise, so as to form a triangle. 
Make a sling of the handkerchief by attaching two of 
the corners to the waistband, and slip the sling over the 
testicles so as to hold them up. The sling can be pre- 
vented from slipping upward by fastening to the lower 
edge a piece of tape, and passing it between the buttocks, 
fastening to the waistband behind. 

A still better method of supporting the testicles is 
by a pad shaped like a crutch, placed between the legs, 
and sufficiently high to support the testicles. The pad 
should be well cushioned. Hot fomentations, or linseed 
poultices, as hot as can be borne, should be applied to 



506 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the affected parts and the groin on the same side, for 
twenty minutes every two hours. On removing the 
fomentations, immediately apply cloths wrung out of ice- 
water, ice compresses, or ice packs. If compresses are 
used, the cloths should be changed every two minutes, 
or sufficiently often to prevent their becoming warm. 
Bags filled with ice-water are much better. They should 
be placed in such a way as to avoid pressure upon the 
testicle, but should envelop it well. It is necessary to 
have two or three, so that the fresh one can be placed in 
position while the other is being refilled with ice. The 
cold applications should be continued, except when the 
fomentations are applied, until the inflammation is sub- 
dued, which will be indicated by relief from pain, heat, 
tenderness, and swelling. After this has been accom- 
plished, the absorption of the swelling between the cov- 
erings of the testicles may be hastened by continuous 
application of warm poultices. 

If the disease continues several days, hot baths 
should be administered as often as every other day. 
The application of fomentations to the back will afford 
great relief from pain. The use of tobacco, opium, etc., 
in the poultices, is not necessary. If the treatment sug- 
gested is followed closely, the patient will suffer little 
pain, and the disease will be rapidly controlled. 

HYDROCELE, 

This affection consists of an accumulation of fluid 
between the coverings of the testicle. The fluid is not 
serum, as in dropsy, but consists of the natural secretion 
of the membrane greatly increased in quantity. The 
disease is usually the result of blows or mechanical inju- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 507 

ries of some sort, though it sometimes occurs without 
apparent cause. The amount of fluid rarely exceeds a 
pint and a half, and is generally much less, although one 
of the most eminent historians of modern times is said 
to have had a hydrocele which held six quarts. The 
disease frequently occurs in infants as well as adults. 

Symptoms. — The difficulty is easily known by its 
peculiar appearance. (Fig. 6, Plate E.) The swelling 
is generally pear-shaped, the large extremity down- 
ward, being very tense, and when viewed with a 
bright light on the opposite side from the eye, is semi- 
translucent, having the appearance of a bladder filled 
with water when viewed in the same way. An inexpe- 
rienced person may confound hydrocele with hernia, or 
breach of the scrotum. It may be distinguished, how- 
ever, by the fact that hernia is larger at the upper part, 
decreasing in size downward, and first begins next to 
the body, growing down ; while the enlargement of the 
hydrocele begins at the lower part, increasing upward as 
the fluid accumulates. Hernia, unless strangulated, also 
disappears when the patient lies down ; while hydrocele 
is unaffected by change of position. 

Treatment. — The fluid may be very easily drawn off 
by simple puncture with a trochar. This treatment is 
all that is needed in small infants, as the fluid does not 
usually return ; but in adults, it is very certain to refill. 
External applications have no curative advantages. A 
radical cure can only be effected by producing inflamma- 
tion of the walls of the sack sufficient to cause it to ad- 
here. This is readily done by the injection of a small 
quantity of tincture of iodine after the fluid has been 
removed. The remedy named is less likely to produce 



508 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

violent inflammation than the various other irritants 
which are sometimes used for the same purpose. The 
operation of laying open by the knife, thus producing an 
open sore, is effective ; but a cure by this method is 
attended with prolonged suffering, and hence should not 
be tried unless other methods have been used without 
success. A person suffering with this disorder should 
place himself in the hands of a good surgeon. 

IEEITEBLE END NEURELGIEC TESTICLE 

Irritability and tenderness of the testicle is likely to 
occur about the period of puberty, when special devel- 
opment occurs. The tenderness is such that a slight 
touch or the friction of the clothing in walking produces 
pain. There is no swelling or appearance of inflamma- 
tion. The difficulty is sometimes present in epilepsy ; 
but it is usually the result of self-abuse or prolonged 
sexual excitement from lascivious thoughts. In these 
cases, pain frequently extends to the limbs and back, 
and is often attended with nausea and much distress. 
There is also occasional swelling of the testicle in cases 
of the latter class. The pain is sometimes so great, 
especially where the patient has been addicted to self- 
abuse, that he begs to have the organs removed. 

Neuralgia of the testicle is due to the same causes 
which produce neuralgia in other parts of the body. It 
is very liable to occur in persons suffering from inactivity 
of the liver, and disorders of digestion, or constipation of 
the bowels, especially when the patient has been addicted 
to the habit of self-abuse or sexual excesses of any kind. 

Treatment — In young boys, the difficulty will usu- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 509 

ally be removed by the application of the wet compress 
at night. In some cases, hot fomentations to the parts, 
night and morning, and occasional sitz baths, will be re- 
quired. Attention should be given to the general health 
by the regulation of the diet, exercise in the open 
air, etc. 

Measures should be taken to discover the cause, 
which should be promptly removed. No good can come 
from treatment so long as the patient indulges in erotic 
thoughts, or while the bowels are constipated, or other 
active causes are in operation. Sitz baths should be 
taken daily. The testicles should be supported by a 
suspensory bandage. This is of particular advantage 
when a varicocele is present, which, even though slight, is 
often attended with a great amount of pain and discom- 
fort. A sitz bath should be taken daily, or every other 
day, at a temperature of 105°. Instead of the sitz bath, 
the parts may be bathed with hot water morning and 
night, either by pouring water upon the parts from a 
dipper, or laving them in the water from a wash-bowl. 

The diet should be unstimulating. Flesh food should 
be used very rarely, and condiments, tobacco, and stim- 
ulating drinks should be avoided. If the patient is 
plethoric, which is often the case, sweating baths should 
be taken once or twice a week, and a spare diet should 
be employed to reduce the flesh a little. The bowels 
should be kept open by an abundant use of fruits and 
coarse grains, or, if necessary, by the employment of 
enemas. The old plan of removing the testicles, prac- 
ticed by some English surgeons, is unnecessary. Re- 
moval of the cause is a much more rational plan. 



510 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

HTROPHY, OR SHRINKHGE OF THE TESTICLE, 

Atrophy of the testicle, as indicated by a softening 
or diminution in size, is sometimes the result of inflam- 
mation, though it is much more frequently the result of 
masturbation or excessive venery. It never occurs as 
the result of abstinence from sexual indulgence. Soften- 
ing or destruction of the organ is often the result of 
varicocele. It should be said that considerable softening 
may occur without entire destruction of the organs, or 
total loss of sexual power. 

VESICOCELE. 

Varicocele, or a varicose condition of the spermatic 
veins in the scrotum, is a very frequent affection, be- 
ing found in about one of every ten adult males. The 
enlargement may be accompanied by a chronic inflam- 
mation, causing thickening of the walls. The mass of 
enlarged veins sometimes assumes so great size as to en- 
tirely conceal the testicle, causing the affected side to 
become several times larger than the other. The disease 
usually begins at about the age of eighteen or twenty. 
It is often unnoticed for some time, generally until the 
swelling becomes so great as to attract attention, when 
it is often mistaken for hernia. It may be distinguished 
from the latter condition by the peculiar feeling of the 
mass of veins, which produce, when pressed between the 
thumb and finger, the sensation of a mass of worms. 
(Fig. 2, Plate E.) On lying down, it usually disappears. 
On arising, the veins begin to fill, and the swelling re- 
appears, beginning first near the testicle. By this means 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 511 

it can be distinguished from hernia, in which the enlarge- 
ment begins above, at the body, increasing downward as 
the intestine protrudes more and more. Varicocele 
most frequently occurs in the left side, owing to the fact 
that there is no valve in the left spermatic vein. 

Varicocele is usually accompanied by more or less 
pain and inconvenience. There is frequent pain, not 
only in the testicle, but in the groin. If not actual pain, 
there are constant dragging sensations, especially when 
engaged in active exercise on the feet, and particularly 
during hot weather, which render the patient very un- 
comfortable. There is also, frequently, pain in the back. 

The most common causes are straining at stool from 
constipation of the bowels, and long walking or standing. 
It is most likely to occur in persons who have been 
addicted to the habit of self-abuse or sexual excesses of 
any sort. 

Treatment. — Mild cases require simply suspension 
of the parts by means of a scrotal suspensory bandage, 
which consists of a proper sling or bag, supported by a 
waistband. There are many varieties of these support- 
ers made, most of which are worthless. It is important 
that the support should be of such a character as to pro- 
duce no discomfort ; but it should at the same time be 
firm enough to afford sufficient compression to empty 
the dilated veins. 

Cold bathing of the parts will do much to overcome 
the relaxation of the scrotum which is always found in 
these cases, and it will be found particularly useful in 
hot weather, when the parts are naturally more relaxed. 

In bad cases, those in which the varicocele is very 
large, or in which the patient suffers great discomfort or 



512 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

inconvenience from the pain, which is not removed by 
the scrotal supporter, and in cases in which wasting of the 
testicle is occurring in consequence of the disease, more 
radical measures should be employed. The only means 
of radical cure is a proper surgical operation. There are 
two classes of operations which have been employed. 
One consists in removal of an elliptical portion of the 
skin of the scrotum, by which the size of the scrotum is 
diminished, so that the veins are permanently com- 
pressed. This method is in many cases entirely satis- 
factory. It has the advantage of being wholly free 
from danger, either to the life of the patient or the in- 
tegrity of the testicle. But it has the disadvantage 
that in many cases, especially those in which the varico- 
cele is large, the remaining tissues of the scrotum are 
gradually stretched until the relaxation becomes nearly 
as great as before. The second method consists in 
obliteration of the diseased veins by ligation or other- 
wise. The common method of doing this involves some 
danger of inflammation of the veins and blood poisoning. 
"We have for some years, however, adopted a method of 
ligating the veins with non-irritating ligatures, and have 
seen none but the best results. In cases in which there 
is great relaxation of the scrotum, both methods should 
be employed. The scrotum should be shortened, and a 
number of enlarged veins ligated. 



•••j5>»£^Cr-<sr— 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 513 



PRIAPISM. 

Very frequent or persistent erections are frequently 
the result of abnormal irritability of the controlling cen- 
ters of the brain and spinal cord. This condition is 
known as priapism. It may result from injury to the 
back of the head. Lallemand relates the case of a 
patient who was able to produce not only erection, but 
ejaculations by simply striking his head with his knuckles. 
Extreme cases in which the erection is almost constant 
and painful, are much more rare than those in which the 
erections occur on slight provocation, as the friction of 
the trousers in walking or riding. Irritation of the pre- 
puce, constipation of the bowels, and irritability of the 
spine, arising from any source, are among the most com- 
mon causes of this condition. To this must be added 
the condition of irritable weakness of the organs, which 
is the common result of sexual excesses, especially self- 
abuse. There is commonly found in these cases an 
irritable condition of the prostate, and frequently of the 
whole urethra. 

Treatment. — The cause must be removed. Exciting 
foods of every kind must be avoided. The mind must 
be kept free from every lascivious thought. A warm 
sitz bath may be taken with advantage daily, or even 
twice a day. Hot fomentations, applied over the lower 
portion of the spine, is a useful measure which will com- 
monly afford relief. To these measures should be added 
all such as will improve the general health. 

33 



514 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

EBEORMSLITIES OF THE TESTICLES, 

The testicles are developed in the abdomen, usually 
descending into the scrotum a short period before birth. 
In occasional cases, one or both testicles do not de- 
scend into the scrotum at this time, but remain either 
permanently or for a short time in the abdominal 
cavity. This accounts for the fact that men sometimes 
have children who apparently have no testicles. It 
should be stated, however, that a man whose testicles 
are in this condition, is likely to be sterile. The 
sterility is not due to the abnormal position of the 
organ, but to the fact that a retained testicle is likely 
to be imperfectly developed. The author has met a few 
cases in which one testicle was sometimes in the 
scrotum and sometimes in the abdomen, the patient 
having the power to draw it up into the abdominal 
cavity at will. Occasional cases occur in which an 
extra or supernumerary testicle is found. In most cases, 
however, what appears to be a third testicle is but a 
cystic fibrous growth. The testicle is sometimes mis- 
placed, and is occasionally found in the perineum. 
Nothing can be done to remedy the condition known as 
non-descent of the testicle, and in cases of supernumerary 
testicle, no treatment is required. 

IMPOTERCE, 

Impotence is usually the result of sexual excesses. 
Probably the most frequent cause is abnormal sexual 
indulgence, particularly self-abuse. When begun early 
in life, and continued to a greater or less extent while 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 515 

the body is developing, and before the sexual organs 
are fully matured, a period during which this portion 
of the body should be wholly free from excitement, the 
sexual powers are almost certain to be more or less 
weakened, though in some individuals a great amount 
of indulgence seems to be tolerated without producing 
impotence. 

The first symptoms usually noticed by an individual 
whose sexual powers are weakening, is too early ejacula- 
tion in the sexual act. As the disease advances, a par- 
tial loss of sexual power soon follows. The primary 
cause of this symptom, which ultimately leads to total 
loss of sexual power, is exhaustion of the nerve 
centers of the spinal cord, which control the sexual 
organs. This is the atonic form of impotence, which is 
by far the most common of all the forms of this humil- 
iating disease. In this class of cases, there will usually 
be found a sensitive condition of the urethra. In 
nearly all cases, there is usually more or less tenderness 
of the prostatic portion of the urethra, and the urethra 
may frequently be found excruciatingly tender through- 
out its whole length. Cases occasionally occur in which 
the urethra is not sensitive. In these cases, there 
often seems to be a slightly paralyzed condition of the 
entire organs. Sometimes there is a numbness or lack 
of sensibility in the skin of the penis or scrotum, or of 
some other portion of the organs. 

Impotence is sometimes only a symptom of other 
diseased conditions of the body. It is frequently an ac- 
companiment of dyspepsia, various forms of paralysis, 
spinal irritation, diabetes, and Bright's disease of the 
kidneys. Disease of the testicles is productive of the 
most complete and hopeless of all forms of impotence. 



516 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Treatment. — There is no specific treatment for impo- 
tence, and the only general principle which can be laid 
down is that the immediate cause, whatever it may be, 
must be removed. If the local weakness is due to gen- 
eral debility or disease, the causative malady must of 
course receive immediate attention. In these cases, no 
local measures of treatment may be necessary, though 
usually a cure may be hastened by the employment of 
the proper local remedies. If the sexual weakness is 
due to an abnormal irritability of the urethra, this should 
receive such treatment as has been elsewhere indi- 
cated. 

Cases of impotence arising from spermatorrhoea or 
general nervous debility, should be treated according to 
the directions given for the management of these dis- 
orders. Electricity is in these cases found to be of great 
value when properly applied. Both galvanic and faradic 
electricity are highly useful. Some cases, especially 
those accompanied by partial loss of sensation in the 
skin covering the organs, are found to be especially 
benefited by static electricity. The methods of apply- 
ing galvanic and faradic electricity are the same as have 
been laid down in the treatment of nocturnal losses and 
spermatorrhoea. The electrical brush is frequently 
found to be a valuable addition to the methods of treat- 
ment already intimated. Fomentations, hot and cold 
applications, and the hot pour to the spine, are often 
found to be of very great service in cases of this sort. 
Alternate hot and cold sponging of the parts, especially 
when the patient complains of numbness and coldness of 
the organs, is a very useful measure. 

We should not neglect to warn those who are suffer- 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 517 

ing in this way of the danger which is likely to result 
from the use of the various aphrodisiacs which are so 
commonly recommended by physicians to persons whose 
sexual powers show evidence of failure. These artificial 
stimulants sometimes arouse the sexual organs to an 
abnormal activity for a brief time, but only to produce 
ultimately an exaggeration of the exhaustion and debil- 
ity. When symptoms of loss of sexual power occur, the 
patient should understand that the sexual organs have 
become weakened, and demand rest, and he should 
abstain wholly from all excitement of the organs through 
mental influence or otherwise. In the majority of cases, 
a sufficiently prolonged rest will give the organs oppor- 
tunity to recover their natural tone, especially if the 
measures of treatment above recommended are faithfully 
carried out. In some cases, however, the disease is so 
obstinate that it demands the best efforts of the most 
skillful physician. Those who seek medical advice for 
relief of this disease, should be careful to avoid the great 
army of quacks who set many traps and pit-falls for the 
unwary young man who believes himself to be threat- 
ened with a loss of sexual power, or impotence. These 
charlatans reap a rich harvest from the fears and easy 
gullibility of this class of patients. 

It is unquestionably true that quite a large propor- 
tion of the cases who seek medical advice for the cure of 
impotence, are the result of mental influence. The 
patient, knowing that he has been guilty of excesses, 
imagines that he has become impotent, and thereby 
really makes himself so. These cases can be readily 
cured by proper medical advice. The fact that they 
exist should not lead physicians to consider that nearly 



518 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

all cases are the result of this condition, as there are 
probably very few cases of so-called psychic impotence 
in which there is not real weakness of the sexual organs; 
and there is in the majority of cases a prostatic irritabil- 
ity which should be removed by proper treatment. 

STERILITY. 

This condition, while it is much less common in 
man than in woman, is undoubtedly much more frequent 
in the male sex than is generally supposed. It has been 
estimated by reliable authorities that in cases of sterility 
occurring in married couples, the fault is with the man 
in about one in six cases. The most common causes of 
sterility are the following : Non-development of the tes- 
ticles ; disease of the testes, as chronic inflammation, or 
the results of acute inflammation ; absence of the testi- 
cles ; deformity or obstruction of the vas deferens or 
some portion of the seminal ducts ; diseased seminal 
fluid ; catarrhal or bloody discharge, usually the result 
of disease of the vesiculse seminales ; too frequent sex- 
ual indulgences, causing deterioration of the seminal fluid 
which may exist even to the extent of the entire absence 
of spermatozoa ; frequent seminal losses ; prostatorrhoea, 
or catarrh of the prostate ; aspermatism, or absence of 
spermatozoa ; non-ejaculation ; consumption ; syphilis ; 
disease of the brain and kidneys ; neurasthenia, or gen- 
eral nervous debility. 

Treatment. — The treatment of sterility requires a 
high degree of skill, and hence cases of this sort should 
only be undertaken by a physician of experience. The 
skillful physician will first seek to remove the causes of 



DISEASES OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 519 

the disease, when they are of such a character that they 
can be removed by remedial means. 

CESTRRTIOH, 

The operation for the removal of the testicles is 
known as castration. This operation was practiced 
among Eastern nations in ancient times, especially in 
the households of kings, who required the officers em- 
ployed in their households to submit to it, — a cruel cus- 
tom, which fortunately is not in vogue at the present 
time. During the Dark Ages, young men who were 
employed as singers in the religious services of the cathe- 
drals, were usually subjected to this operation for the 
purpose of preserving the high-keyed tone of their 
youthful voices. The effect of the operation, when per- 
formed before puberty, is to prevent those changes 
which naturally occur at that time. When performed 
after the body has attained maturity, the operation does 
not materially affect the individual's physical appearance, 
although certain mental changes, particularly the ten- 
dency to effeminacy, has sometimes been observed. It 
is possible, however, that the last-named effect is not a 
necessary result of the operation. 

CIRCUMCISION, 

This is an operation which has been practiced by the 
Jews from the earliest times, and has also been in vogue 
among several Eastern nations from time immemorial. 
This operation is usually performed by cutting off a 
portion of the foreskin, or prepuce. It is often neces- 



520 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

sitated by a redundancy or tightness of the prepuce, 
though we do not approve of the assertion some- 
times made by medical men that all males would be- 
better for submitting to this operation. Observations 
made among the Jews have shown that circumcision 
occasions a narrowing of the external orifice of the 
urethra, in consequence of which some of the unpleasant 
results of stricture may be produced. This is due to 
the prolonged irritation present during the healing of 
the wound when performed upon young infants in the 
usual way. 




General Hints about Health. 




^Tflfii ^ ^ s snor t cna pter, the reader will find a few 
lliwl i m P or tant hints respecting the general care of 
ilNifl the health, a subject which has not received 
special attention in other chapters in this 
work, but which is well worthy of the careful 
consideration of one who wishes to attain a 
high degree of physical vigor, and the full en- 
joyment of all his faculties and senses. The 
cultivation of health by attention to all the 
laws which govern the various activities of the 
body, is one of the most profitable occupations to which 
a portion of one's time can be devoted. 

(ME OF THE SKIN, 

The following remarks on this subject are quoted 
from a larger work by the author, entitled the " Home 
Hand-Book of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medi- 
cine " : — 

The skin is one of the most important depurating 
organs of the whole body. From each of its millions of 
pores constantly flows a stream laden with the poisonous 
products of disintegration. As the water evaporates, it 
leaves behind it these non-volatile poisons, which are 
deposited as a thin film over the whole surface of the 

[521] 



522 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

skin. As each day passes, the process continues, and 
the film thickens. If the skin is moderately active, 
three or four days will suffice' to form a layer which may 
be compared to a thin coating of varnish or sizing. The 
accumulation continues to increase, unless removed, and 
soon undergoes further processes of decomposition. It 
putrefies, — rots, in fact, — and develops an odor character- 
istic and quite too familiar, though anything but pleasant, 
being at once foul, putrid, fetid, pungent, uncleanly, and 
unpardonable. 

But the offense to the nose is not the extent of the 
evil. The unclean accumulation chokes the mouths of 
millions of little sewers which should be engaged in 
eliminating these poisons, and thus obstructs their work. 
Being retained in contact with the skin, some poisons 
are absorbed, together with the results of advancing 
decay, thus re-poisoning the system, and necessitating 
their elimination a second time. 

Here, water serves a most useful end, if properly 
employed. It is unexcelled as a detergent, and by fre- 
quent application to the skin, will keep it wholly free 
from the foul matters described. The necessity for fre- 
quent ablutions is well shown by the fact that nearly 
two pounds of poison-laden solution — the perspiration — 
are daily spread over the body. It is not an uncommon 
occurrence to meet with people who have never taken a 
general bath in their lives. Imagine, if possible, the 
condition of a man's skin, at the age of seventy or eighty 
years, which has never once felt the cleansing effects of 
a thorough bath ! 

How to Make the Skin Healthy. — A man who has 
a perfectly healthy skin, is almost certain to be healthy 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 523 

in other respects. In no way can the health of the skin 
be preserved, but by frequent bathing. A daily or tri- 
weekly bath, accompanied by friction, will keep the skin 
clean, supple, and vigorous. There is no reason why 
the whole surface of the body should not be washed, as 
well as the face and hands. The addition of a little soap 
is necessary to remove the oily secretion from the skin. 

A lady of fashion, in enumerating the means for pre- 
serving beauty, says : " Cleanliness, my last recipe (and 
which is applicable to all ages), is of most powerful effi- 
cacy. It maintains the limbs in their pliancy, the skin 
in its softness, the complexion in its luster, the eyes in' 
their brightness, the teeth in their purity, and the con- 
stitution in its fairest vigor. To promote cleanliness, I 
can recommend nothing preferable to bathing. The 
frequent use of tepid baths is not more grateful to the 
sense than it is salutary to the health and to beauty. . . 
By such means, the women of the East render their 
skin softer than that of the tenderest babe in this 
climate." " I strongly recommend every lady to make 
a bath as indispensable an article in her house as a 
looking-glass." 

When foul matters which ought to be eliminated by 
the skin and quickly removed from the body, are allowed 
to remain undisturbed, the skin becomes clogged and in- 
active, and soon loses its natural luster and color, becom- 
ing dead, dark, and unattractive. When bathing is so 
much neglected, it is no marvel that paints, powders, lo- 
tions, and cosmetics of all sorts are in such great demand. 
A daily bath, at the proper temperature, is the most 
agreeable and efficient of all cosmetics. 

Bathing Protects against Colds. — It is an errone- 



524 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

ous notion that bathing renders a person more liable " to 
take cold, by opening the pores." Colds are produced 
by disturbance of the circulation, not by opening or 
closing the pores of the skin. Frequent bathing in- 
creases the activity of the circulation in the skin, so 
that a person is far less subject to chilliness and to 
taking cold. An individual who takes a daily cool 
bath has almost perfect immunity from colds, and is 
little susceptible to changes of the temperature. Colds 
are sometimes taken after- bathing, but this results from 
some neglect of the proper precautions necessary to 
prevent such an occurrence. 

Aristocratic Vermin. — Doubtless, not a few of those 
very refined and fastidious people who spend many 
hours in the application of all sorts of lotions and other 
compounds to the face and hands, for the purpose of 
beautifying those parts of the person exposed to view, 
while neglecting as persistently the parts of the person 
not exposed to observation, would be very much sur- 
prised to learn the true condition of the unwashed por- 
tions of their cutaneous covering. They instinctively 
shrink with disgust from a vermin-covered beggar, in 
whose cuticle burrows the acarus scabiei (itch-mite), 
while troops of larger insects are racing through his locks 
and nibbling at his scalp. It is quite possible that 
many a fair " unwashed " would faint with fright if ap- 
prised of the fact that her own precious covering is the 
home of whole herds of horrid-looking parasites which 
so nearly resemble the itch-mite as to be at least a very 
near relative, perhaps half-brother or cousin. The name 
of this inhabitant of skins unwashed is as formidable 
as the aspect of the creature, though it does not require 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 525 

a microscope to display its proportions, as does the 
latter; scientists call it demodex folliculorum. 

The demodex makes himself at home in the seba- 
ceous follicles, where he dwells with his family. Here 
the female lays her eggs, and rears her numerous 
family, undisturbed by the friction of any flesh-brush, 
and only suffering a transient deluge at long intervals, 
if such a casualty ever happens. In studying the 
structure of these little parasites, we have sometimes 
found several tenants occupying a single follicle, pur- 
suing their domestic operations quite unmolested by 
any external disturbance. 

The demodex has been transplanted from the human 
subject to the dog, and it is found that the new 
colony thrives very remarkably, and soon produces a 
disease apparently identical with that known as 
" mange." 

We have not space to describe in detail these savage 
little brutes, with their eight legs, armed with sharp 
claws, bristling heads, sharp lancets for puncturing and 
burrowing into the skin, and their powerful suckers for 
drawing the blood of their victims. We care only to 
impress upon the mind of the reader the fact that 
neglect of bathing and friction of the skin is sure to en- 
courage the presence of millions of these parasites, 
and that the only remedy is scrupulous cleanliness of 
the whole person. Like their relative, the itch-mite, 
they do not thrive under hydropathic treatment, and 
are very averse to soap and water. The best way to 
get rid of them is to drown them out. They do not 
produce the irritation which characterizes the presence 
of the itch insect, so that this evidence of their presence 



526 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

is wanting. But they are likely to be present in a 
torpid, unhealthy, unwashed skin, no matter how delicate 
or fastidious its possessor. 

Bathing a Natural Instinct — All nature attests 
the importance of the bath. The rain is a natural 
shower bath in which all living things participate, and 
gain refreshment. Its invigorating influence is seen in 
the brighter appearance, more erect bearing, and 
brighter colors of the plants after a gentle rain. The 
flowers manifest their gratitude by exhaling in greater 
abundance their fragrant odors. Dumb animals do not 
neglect their morning bath. Who has not seen the 
robin skimming along the surface of the lake or stream, 
dipping its wings in the cool waters, and laving its 
plumage in the crystal drops that its flapping pinions 
send glittering into the air ? No school-boy who has 
ever seen the elephant drink will forget how the huge 
beast improved the opportunity to treat himself to a 
shower bath, and perhaps the spectators as well, for he 
is very generous in his use of water. 

If man's instincts were not rendered obtuse by the 
perverted habits of civilization, he would value the bath 
as highly, and employ it as freely, as some of his more 
humble fellow-creatures, whose instinctive impulses have 
remained more true to nature, because they have not 
possessed that degree of intelligence which would make 
it possible for them to become so grossly perverted as 
have the members of the human race. Man goes astray 
from nature, not because he is deficient in instinct, but 
because he stifles the promptings of his better nature for 
the purpose of gratifying his propensities. 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 527 

CERE OF THE EYES, 

Use of the Eyes. — The effort to accommodate the 
eye in looking at near objects, requires the action of 
several muscles, which must continue to act so long as 
the sight remains fixed on near objects. When the ef- 
fort is long sustained, these muscles become weary, and 
when not given proper opportunities for rest, they may 
become seriously diseased. If the eyes are easily tired, 
and can be used but a short time without a blurring of 
vision or aching of the eyeballs, it is probable that there 
is some serious defect, and an oculist should be consulted. 

Never try to read or do work requiring close applica- 
tion of the eyesight in a poor light. In doing so, the 
book or other object must be brought too near the 
eye, and thus near-sightedness may be acquired. 

In reading, have the light come over the shoulder, 
the left if convenient, and avoid using the eyes in a 
glaring light as much as possible. 

Never expose the eyes to a sudden bright light when 
it is possible to avojd doing so. After the eyes have 
Ibeen closed for some hours, some little time elapses after 
they are opened before they are fully accustomed to the 
light. On this account, it is not well to employ the 
eyes in reading immediately on waking in the morning. 

Reading in the cars is injurious to the eyes on ac- 
count of the shaking which continually changes the dis- 
tance between the book and the eye, and thus taxes 
most severely the organs of accommodation. 

Wearing Glasses. — When glasses are needed by 
old persons, they should be worn, not necessarily all the 
time in all cases, but when specially needed, as in read- 



528 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

ing, doing fine work, etc. Persons who are near-sighted 
should avoid wearing too strong glasses, as this will 
increase the defect. 

Glasses should enable a person to read with ease at 
eight to twelve inches from the eye. An old person 
who cannot see well without slipping his glasses down 
upon his nose, should obtain stronger glasses. 

Eye Lotions. — The common use of the numerous 
domestic and patented eye-washes is a frequent cause of 
serious disease of the eye. When the eyes are simply 
irritated by excessive work, a cold, exposure to dust, 
or any similar cause of irritation, frequent bathing with 
tepid water, or rest with a thin cloth wet in tepid water 
laid over the eyes, is a good and harmless remedy. If 
the case is not speedily relieved by some simple meas- 
ures of this sort, consult a competent physician at once. 

Things in the Eye. — Dirt in the eye, if visible, 
may usually be removed by a corner of a folded handker- 
chief, or by the end of the finger previously moistened 
with oil. If out of sight under the lids, a loop of hair 
passed under and withdrawn will generally bring it out. 
A piece of steel or other sharp substance which has be- 
come imbedded in the eyeball, should never be left to 
work out, but a competent surgeon should be consulted 
at once. 

If lime or any other alkali has gotten into the eye, 
bathe with water at once, and as quickly as possible 
apply a weak solution of vinegar, using about a table- 
spoonful of vinegar in half a glass of water. 

Inflammation of the eye, if attended by great pain, 
intolerance of light, or a mattery discharge, demands the 
attention of a skillful physician. t 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 529 

Catching Eye Diseases. — All inflammations of the 
eye, attended by a discharge, are contagious by contact ; 
and persons suffering in this way should: never use the 
same wash-basin or towel used by others, and should 
sleep alone. Neglect of this rule sometimes allows a 
dangerous disease of the eye to extend through a whole 
school or institution. 

Squint is an affection of the muscles of the eye. If 
the muscles which turn the eyes inward contract more 
strongly than the opposite muscles, the individual is 
" cross-eyed." If the outer muscles contract the more 
strongly, the eye turns out, and the individual is said to 
be " wall-eyed." 

Wild Hairs. — Sometimes the eyelashes grow in a 
scattered manner, and turn inward toward the eyeball, 
causing great irritation. These are commonly called wild 
hairs. If persistently pulled out, they sometimes cease 
to grow, although the only certain cure is by a surgical 
operation. 

Education of the Eye. — It is well known that 
savages and foresters generally possess much more acute 
vision than other persons, often being able to see clearly 
at long distances objects which are wholly invisible to 
others. This is undoubtedly the result of education; 
and it is quite certain that careful training of the eye in 
discerning objects at a distance would greatly increase 
its usefulness, and counteract ,. the increasing tendency 
to short-sightedness which is becoming so marked among 
civilized nations as to excite considerable alarm. 

34 



530 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

HOW TO CERE FOR THE ERRS, 

Observe the following rules respecting the care of the 
ears : — 

Never clean the ears with a pick or with the twisted 
end of a towel. The ear-wax dries up, and falls out of 
itself. Efforts to keep the ear free from wax, increase 
the difficulty by irritating the membrane, and causing it 
to make more wax. 

Never allow cold water to enter the ears, and do not 
let a cold wind blow into them. If they must be exposed 
to cold air or to water, protect them by a little wad of 
cotton placed in the ear. Care should be taken to re- 
move the cotton when it is no longer needed. Much 
mischief sometimes results by leaving portions of cotton 
or paper in the ear. 

If a seed or other foreign substance has gotten into 
the ear, do not try to remove it by introducing a knitting- 
needle or by any similar means. The only safe plan is 
to syringe the ear with warm water, leaning the head to 
one side so that the object may drop out if loosened. If 
a pea or bean has been in the ear so long that it has 
swelled, and hence cannot be dislodged by the syringe, 
it may be contracted so that it will fall out by holding 
alcohol in the ear for a short time. 

If an insect gets into the ear, pour in a little oil, 
which will suffocate it, when it may be removed by 
syringing. 

Shouting into the ear may cause deafness. This is 
true of any loud or unexpected sound. Such sounds are 
liable to cause rupture of the drum head, which may be 
some time in healing, and may leave the hearing perma- 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 531 

nently impaired. When a loud sound is expected, the 
ear is prepared for it by loosening of the drum head. 
It is also well to keep the mouth closed, and to cover 
the ears. 

Earache may usually be allayed, if given early atten- 
tion, by applying flannel cloths wrung out of water as 
hot as can be borne. This common complaint among 
children is often the result of a cold, and if it occurs fre- 
quently, may cause permanent deafness. 

Partial deafness is much more common among chil- 
dren than is generally supposed, and a child should 
not be punished for inattention until its ears have been 
carefully tested by stopping each one in succession, and 
testing the other by speaking to the child at a distance 
while the eyes are covered. A person is often able to 
hear well when giving close attention; but when not 
expecting to be spoken to, will hear nothing. 

Boxing and pulling the ears are barbarous practices, 
which often cause loss of hearing, and sometimes disease 
of the ear which proves fatal. 

A cold in the head often causes partial loss of hear- 
ing for a few days, due to obstruction of the eustachian 
tube. If often repeated, permanent deafness may re- 
sult. 

Discharge from the ears is usually the result of 
an inflammation of the middle ear with rupture of the 
drum head. Such a case should never be neglected. 
Consult a physician at once. 

Never put chloroform or laudanum in the ear for relief 
of toothache. 

The use of tobacco in any form often leads to deaf- 
ness by causing disease of the throat, which leads to ear 
disease. The same may be said of the use of liquors. 



532 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Tea and Coffee. — The wide-spread use of these 
popular beverages is undoubtedly responsible for much 
of the nervousness and a considerable share of the 
dyspepsia so common among civilized people. For many 
years, the use of these narcotics was considered harmless, 
by physicians as well as by the laity; but in recent 
years, many eminent physicians have become aroused to 
the fact that both tea and coffee are productive of much 
harm, and are protesting against their use. The active 
principle of both tea and coffee is a narcotic poison, a 
few grains of which will produce almost instant death 
when given to a cat or dog. Indeed, so small a quantity 
as twelve grains of this poison has been known to pro- 
duce very dangerous symptoms in a strong man ; and 
cases are on record in which persons have been made 
insensible by the drinking of strong tea. 

Some years ago, a case was reported in which an 
English physician lost a fine horse through the careless- 
ness of the groom, who allowed a small quantity of tea 
to become mixed with the grain which was fed the horse. 
The horse died with all the symptoms of narcotic poison- 
ing. There is enough of this poison in a single ounce of 
tea to produce dangerous symptoms. 

Coffee contains some less of the poison, but this does 
not diminish the harm arising from its use, as a larger 
quantity of coffee is usually employed than in the use of 
tea. In addition to this active principle, known as 
theme or caffeine, both tea and coffee contain tannin, 
which injures the stomach by contracting the blood- 
vessels, and otherwise impedes digestion by precipitating 
the pepsin of the gastric juice. 

Persons who use tea and coffee are subject to nervous 



OENEBAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 533 

trembling of the hands, headache, defective vision, and 
various other disturbances which indicate too clearly the 
poisonous character of these narcotics to leave any room 
for doubt respecting the propriety of their use. Both 
tea and coffee are particularly injurious to children, and 
wise parents, even though themselves wedded to their 
cups, will certainly withhold them from their children. 

Drugs. — Great harm is done by the indiscriminate 
and wholesale use of drugs, which is so common at the 
present time. There are very few drugs which are not 
more or less poisonous in character, and the majority 
are deadly, except when taken in small closes. Those 
who use drugs should recollect that they are harmful, 
not only in large doses, but in small doses, when long 
continued. Quite a large proportion of common remedies, 
such as quinine, " blood purifiers " of all sorts, bromides, 
iodides, etc., are productive of much harm unless scien- 
tifically used. An immense amount of injury is done by 
the use of patent medicines, nearly all of which are com- 
posed of harmful ingredients, and which, so far as our 
observation goes, which is quite extensive, are capable 
of doing great mischief. 

It is a favorable omen that the better class of physi- 
cians, especially those who have had the advantage of a 
course of medical study in European hospitals, where 
they have the opportunity to watch the practice and 
listen to the teachings of the highest medical authorities 
in the world, use drugs far less freely than formerly. 
More reliance is placed upon proper diet and attention 
to the general habits of life ; to the removal of the causes 
of disease, rather than the mere mitigation of the symp- 
toms. There is no question but that diseases have been 



534 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

vastly multiplied by the multiplication of medicinal rem- 
edies. In a community where doctors are plenty, drug 
diseases are generally almost as numerous as disorders 
which arise from natural causes. 

Rules for Dyspeptics. — A few years ago we formu- 
lated a few rules for dyspeptics, which we give below, 
publishing the same in our little work, " Digestion and 
Dyspepsia." Subsequently we printed the same in our 
journal, Good Health. A short time later they came 
back to us as an editorial in a popular magazine, pub- 
lished in London, and edited by an eminent physician, a 
member of the Royal Society. We feel highly compli- 
mented that our English friend is willing to give so 
hearty an indorsement of our views on this subject as to 
be willing to have them appear as his own. The follow- 
ing are the rules : — 

1. Eat slowly, masticating the food very thoroughly r 
even more so, if possible, than is required in health. 
The more time the food spends in the mouth, the less it 
will spend in the stomach. 

2. Avoid drinking at meals ; at most, take a few sips 
of warm drink at the close of the meal, if the food is 
very dry in character. 

3. In general, dyspeptic stomachs manage dry food 
better than that containing much fluid. 

4. Eat neither very hot nor very cold food. The 
best temperature is about that of the body. Avoid ex- 
posure to cold after eating. 

5. Be careful to avoid excess in eating. Eat no 
more than the wants of the system require. Sometimes 
less than is really needed must be taken when the diges- 
tion is very weak. Strength depends not on what is 
eaten, but on what is digested. 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 535 

6. Never take violent exercise of any sort, either 
mental or physical, just before or just after a meal. It 
is not good to sleep immediately after eating, nor within 
four hours of a meal. 

7. Never eat more than three times a day, and 
make the last meal very light. For many dyspeptics, 
two meals are better than more. 

8. Never eat a morsel of any sort between meals. 

9. Never eat when very tired, whether exhausted 
from mental or physical labor. 

10. Never eat when the mind is worried or the tem- 
per ruffled, if possible to avoid doing so. 

11. Eat only food that is easy of digestion, avoiding 
complicated and indigestible dishes, and taking but one 
to three kinds at a meal. 

12. Most persons will be benefited by the use of oat- 
meal, wheat meal, or graham flour, cracked wheat, and 
other whole-grain preparations, though many will find it 
necessary to avoid vegetables, especially when fruits are 
taken. 

Vital Capacity. — By this is meant the number of 
cubic inches of air which can be exhaled after a deep 
inspiration. This has been found to have a direct rela- 
tion to the hight of an individual. A person who is five 
feet and one inch in hight, has a vital capacity of 175 
inches. Each additional inch in hight adds eight inches 
in vital capacity. Thus, a person measuring five feet 
eight inches in hight, should have a vital capacity of 230 
cubic inches. The lung capacity is easily measured by 
means of a spirometer. An instrument of this sort, 
shown in the accompanying cut (see p. 536), and which 
will answer a very good purpose, may be made as fol- 
lows : — 



536 



MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 




The instrument con- 
sists of two tin vessels, 
one inverted inside the 
other. The larger one 
should be nearly filled 
with water, and should 
have a small tube pass- 
ing up through the cen- 
ter nearly to the top. 
This should communicate 
with a flexible tube out- 
side, to the end of which 
is attached a mouth-piece 
which may consist of a 
short glass tube with a good-sized bore. By blowing 
into the tube, the inner vessel will be made to rise, 
and the amount of air expelled will be indicated by 
a scale accurately determined by previous calculation or 
experiment, and marked on the outside. If the inner 
vessel is eight inches in diameter, a scale may be made 
with lines one-tenth of an inch apart, each of which will 
represent five cubic inches of air. A person five feet 
high ought to be able to raise the scale three inches and 
a half, after taking a full inspiration. A person six feet 
high should be able to raise it five inches. 

By the daily practice of the exercises described in 
the chapter on exercises, a person may increase his vital 
capacity very greatly. 

When a person is exhausted from sedentary employ- 
ment, the practice of deep and prolonged respiration with 
the chest well expanded, the shoulders back, and the 
spine erect, will be found exceedingly refreshing. 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 537 

Development of the Body. — These paragraphs be- 
long more properly to the chapter entitled, " How to be 
Strong/'' but are better given here than to be omitted. 
A vigorous and symmetrical development is something 
worthy of the ambition of every man ; and it is worth 
while to know that while all cannot become athletes, 
every man may greatly improve his physique by proper 
daily exercise. 

The following table represents, according to Maclaren, 
the proportions of the average healthy young man of 
nineteen, who has never had any special gymnastic 
training : — 

Hight, 5 feet, 8i in. 

Weight, 133 pounds. 

Chest measurement, 33 in. 

Fore-arm measurement, 1 in. 

Upper-arm measurement, lOf in. 

All of these measurements may be considerably in- 
creased by a few months' training. The hight may be 
increased from half an inch to two inches ; the weight, 
from five to sixteen pounds ; the chest measurement, one 
to five inches ; the fore-arm, one-fourth of an inch to one 
and a quarter inches ; the upper-arm, from one-half an 
inch to two inches. 

Measuring the Body. — Before beginning a course of 
training, careful measurements of the body should be 
taken, so as to form a basis for comparison with subse- 
quent measurements, and thus to determine the rate of 
improvement. These measurements should be made as 
follows : — 

TJie Hight. — Stand with the back to the wall, the 
heels, hips, shoulders, and head touching it, the knees 



538 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

well braced back, the shoulders square, and the chin up. 
The measurement should be made each time at the same 
time of day, and after the same amount of exercise, as a 
very noticeable difference will be found between measure- 
ments taken at night and morning, or before and after 
taking severe exercise. 

The Weight. — The body should be weighed each 
time in the same clothing and at the same time of day. 
The best time is in the morning, and before any food or 
fluid has been taken. Care must be taken to avoid any 
circumstance that may influence the accuracy of the 
observation. 

The Chest. — Stand with the arms extended horizon- 
tally, and have an assistant take the measurement with 
a tape passed around the chest in the line of the nipple. 
Two measurements should be made, one with the chest 
empty of air, and the other after a full inspiration. 

The Upper- Ann. — Close the hand tightly, and bend 
the arm at the elbow, bringing the hand down near to 
the shoulder. Measure at the thickest part of the arm. 

The Fore-Arm. — Extend the arm, and close the 
hand tightly. Measure at the thickest part of the fore- 
arm. The difference between the upper-arm and the 
fore-arm is usually one and a half to two inches. When 
the upper-arm is weak, the chest is usually weak also. 

The Thigh. — Stand upon tiptoe, the knees well 
braced back and the toes pressed down against the floor 
as hard as possible. Measure as high as possible in a 
horizontal line. 

The Calf. — Stand as for the preceding measurement, 
and pass the tape around the thickest part of the lower 
leg. 



GENERAL HINTS ABOUT HEALTH. 539 

To Correct Deformities in Development. — Many 
deformities in development, such as round shoulders, 
curvatures of the spine, hollow chest, stoop shoulders, 
etc., may be corrected by the employment of the appro- 
priate exercises. Lateral curvatures of the spine cause 
one shoulder to be lower than the other. The cause is 
weakness of the muscles of the back upon one side. The 
shoulder of the weaker side is higher than the other. 
This side should be exercised more than the other. In 
using dumb-bells or Indian clubs, the arm of the weaker 
side should use the heavier bell or club. The same 
principle applies to the use of pulley-weights and other 
exercises. 

Dumb-bell and Indian club exercises, hanging by 
the hands, and the use of the pulley-weights with the 
back to the weights, are all excellent means of correcting 
hollowness of the chest and stoop shoulders. 





Common Ailments. 

LARGE share of the accidents and ailments 
to which men and boys are subject may be 
successfully treated by a few simple remedies, 
and by the aid of appliances which may be 
found in every household. Many of these 
ailments are, from their apparently trivial na- 
ture, apt to be neglected, as the result of 
which they not infrequently give rise to very 
grave conditions, and become a cause of much 
suffering and inconvenience. Hence, informa- 
tion respecting the nature of ailments which are of such 
frequent occurrence, is of too great importance to be over- 
looked in a work of this character ; and the knowledge 
of the simple means by which they may be relieved, is 
well worth the space which is devoted to the subject in 
this chapter. 

CHRONIC INFLMHETION OF THE THROHT, 
OR PHHRYNG1T1S, 

Symptoms. — Slight pain in swallowing ; granular ap- 
pearance of the throat ; elongation of the palate ; tough, 
tenacious mucus, occasioning hawking and spitting; 
"hacking" or "hemming" cough; husky voice; ex- 

[540] 



COMMON AILMENTS. 541 



pectoration of small, cheesy or calcareous masses; 
slight hemorrhages from the throat in the morning. 

Causes. — This disease is most commonly the result 
of repeated attacks of acute pharyngeal catarrh, though 
it not infrequently arises insidiously. The individuals 
most subject to the disease are those addicted to the 
use of liquor, tobacco-users, persons of sedentary habits, 
and those exposed to an atmosphere charged with dust or 
irritating gases. A humid atmosphere and changeable 
climate favor the production of this disease. Males are 
more frequently affected than females. It is found in 
its worst form in persons of vicious habits. What is 
known as clergyman's sore throat is a form of this 
disease, and it is undoubtedly the result of the sedentary 
habits of this class of persons. Diseases of the stomach 
and liver are frequently causes of pharyngeal catarrh. 
Bad dietetic habits are an important factor in the pro- 
duction of this disease. The use of mustard, pepper, 
vinegar, pepper-sauce, ginger, and various other condi- 
ments, and the excessive use of salt, sugar, fats, and 
animal food, must be set down among the principal pre- 
disposing causes of this form of the disease. In this 
way the terms " stomach cough " and " liver cough " 
have arisen, the stomach being really the remote cause of 
the cough, the direct source of which is the irritation in 
the throat. The most annoying symptom of chronic 
pharyngitis is the hacking or " hemming " cough, which 
is sometimes very harrassing. The cough arises in some 
cases from the irritation of the soft palate, and in others 
from the elongation of the palate. When the palate be- 
comes so long that the end rests on the back part of 
the tongue, it is very likely to cause a most annoying 
cough, and efforts at expectoration. 



542 -MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

Treatment. — The avoidance of all causes of the 
disease is of the greatest importance. The patient 
should adopt a plain, simple dietary, avoiding condi- 
ments, the use of fats, sugar, pastry, and all stimulating 
and clogging foods. If the patient has been addicted to 
the use of alcoholic liquors or tobacco in any form, these 
habits must be at once abandoned. Every possible 
measure should be taken to build up the general health 
by frequent bathing, keeping the skin in an active con- 
dition, as well as by out-of-door exercise and careful 
regulation of all the habits. Every night, before going 
to bed, apply a cold compress to the throat, and cover 
with a flannel. Remove in the morning, and bathe the 
parts with the hand dipped in cold water. Dry thor- 
oughly, and in cold weather apply a little oil to the neck. 

Apply daily to the throat by means of a swab, some 
astringent application, as tannin and glycerine, or alum 
and glycerine, in the proportion of one dram of either to 
the ounce of glycerine. In cases in which there is great 
dryness of the throat, astringent applications are not re- 
quired. Some simple stimulating application, as gar- 
gling salt water, a teaspoonful to the pint, or a solution of 
chlorate of potash, will be found useful. In cases in 
which the throat presents a granular appearance, the 
galvano-cautery in the hands of a specialist is often re- 
quired for a perfect cure. 



EMERGED TONSILS. 

Symptoms. — Sensation of a lump in the throat upon 
one or both sides ; difficulty in swallowing, in extreme 



COMMON AILMENTS. 543 



cases ; voice changed, patient often being unable to pro- 
nounce certain words ; great susceptibility to " cold in 
the throat ; " constant irritation in the throat ; in many 
cases, impairment of hearing. 

The enlargement is sometimes confined to one side, 
but frequently both tonsils are affected. In some cases 
the enlargement is so great that the passage through the 
throat is almost entirely obstructed. We have fre- 
quently had cases in which the two tonsils came in con- 
tact, so great was the enlargement. Sometimes the en- 
largement is produced gradually. This is especially the 
case in scrofulous children. The results of enlarged 
tonsils are more serious than are generally supposed. 
They not only occasion permanent injury to the voice, 
giving it a nasal character on account of the partial 
paralysis of the soft palate, preventing complete closure 
of the passage to the nasal cavity, but not infrequently 
occasion serious injury to the middle ear from inflam- 
mation of the Eustachian tubes. 

Treatment. — In cases of moderate enlargement, the 
treatment described for chronic pharyngitis may be 
given with success. Where the enlargement is very 
great, there is no remedy but removal. The operation 
is a trivial one, and should be resorted to promptly when 
its necessity becomes apparent. 

In cases of moderate enlargement of the tonsils, and 
those in which the patient objects strongly to removal 
by the tonsillitome, the tonsil may be removed by the 
application of the galvano-cautery. 



-82-@®>-S&- 



544 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



ESSSL CHTERRK 

A catarrh is a condition in which the scales or cells 
covering the mucous membrane are shed too rapidly . 
There is also in catarrh an abnormal activity of the 
mucous glands or follicles of the membrane. The skin, 
as well as the mucous membrane, is subject to catarrh. 
The disease commonly known as salt-rheum, a form of 
eczema, is a variety of catarrh of the skin. Catarrh of 
the skin is usually dry in character, the cells being cast 
off in the form of branny scales. It is, however, some- 
times moist in character, especially when in the acute 
stage. So, also, we have a dry catarrh of the nose, al- 
though in the usual form of the disease there is a more 
or less profuse liquid discharge. 

Chronic catarrh is not, as many persons suppose, a 
chronic inflammation of the part affected, but is a con- 
gestion, usually of a passive character. The blood-ves- 
sels of the affected membrane are greatly relaxed, and 
turgid with venous blood. The constant pressure of 
blood induces an excessive secretion, and the premature* 
death of the covering cells. The secretion decomposes, 
and becomes acrid, increasing the irritation, and ulti- 
mately causing ulceration. The excessive blood supply 
of the membrane occasions swelling and abnormal growth. 
The membranes lining the nasal cavity and other por- 
tions of the respiratory tract become thickened, and va- 
rious unhappy results follow. 

Causes. — Among the most active of all exciting 
causes of catarrh of the nose and throat, is what is pop- 
ularly known as taking cold. " A cold in the head " is 
essentially a slight fever accompanied by an acute 



COMMON AILMENTS. 545 

inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the nasal 
cavity. 

A cold is usually looked upon as a very trifling affair, 
which scarcely needs serious attention, as it will work 
off of itself in a few days. This is really a grave error. 
Neglected colds are the most common cause, not only of 
catarrh of the nose and throat, but not infrequently of 
still more grave diseases, as chronic laryngitis and con- 
sumption. At best, a neglected cold leaves behind it 
an increased susceptibility to taking cold, so that another 
is contracted much more easily than the first ; and this 
susceptibility to taking cold is increased until finally a 
very slight exposure, w T hich would be in fact no expos- 
ure at all to a healthy person, will be sufficient to induce 
a severe cold, which may last for weeks, or even months. 
After a time, indeed, the susceptibility becomes so great 
that no exposure whatever is required to cause the 
individual to take a cold. A change of a few degrees in 
the barometer, or a slight variation in the temperature 
of a room, or a change in the direction of the wind, may 
be sufficient to bring on a fresh attack. 

Thus what was at first only an occasional occurrence, 
colds being contracted only at long intervals, becomes, 
on account of serious exposure, a practically continuous 
condition, and a simple cold has resulted in a chronic 
catarrh. The frequent inflammation of the nasal mem- 
brane has caused its blood-vessels to become relaxed 
and dilated to such an extent that the condition is per- 
manent, and the membrane is constantly congested, thus 
occasioning a too profuse secretion of mucus on the part 
of the glands situated in the membrane, and a too rapid 
exfoliation, or shedding, of the epithelial cells covering 
the membrane. 35 



5tL6 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

It may be well to consider some of the ways in 
which persons contract colds. In general, it may be 
said that a cold is occasioned by some violation of the 
laws relating to health, particularly those relating to 
the proper clothing of the body. The majority of bad 
colds are contracted in the spring and fall, as at these 
seasons of the year people are apt to be most careless in 
regard to the proper protection of the body. Many per- 
sons neglect to put on an extra suit of warm under- 
clothing sufficiently early in the fall to avoid an early 
cold ; and probably an equally large number commit a 
similar error in leaving off the warm woolen under-suits 
too early in the spring, and before the weather has be- 
come settled. In this climate, the weather can scarcely 
be considered settled before the first of June ; indeed, 
in some seasons the weather does not seem to be settled 
at all. A "cold snap" will sometimes occur in July 
and August, which creates as great a necessity for addi- 
tional under-clothing as the approach of cold weather in 
late autumn. The only safe plan in relation to clothing 
is to wear woolen drawers and under-vests the year 
round. Some prefer a mixture of wool and cotton, and 
as a rule, such a fabric is more agreeable to the skin than 
pure wool. The summer suits may be as thin as desired ; 
in winter, very heavy suits should be worn, and, in 
severe cold weather, two or three suits. The clothing 
should be carefully adapted to the weather. Extra cold 
weather in winter, and an extra exposure to the cold, 
call for one or two extra suits of under-clothing ; and a 
cold spell in midsummer creates a still more urgent 
demand for extra clothing than a similar change in win- 
ter, as warm weather produces a condition of the skin 



COMMON AILMENTS. 54^ 



which is not so well prepared to defend itself against the 
cold as when it has been accustomed for some time to a 
lower temperature. 

The clothing of the head is a matter of special im- 
portance. Men, as a rule, protect their heads by warm 
fur or felt caps or hats ; but women are generally so 
enslaved by fashion that health is sacrificed for the sake 
of gratifying the perverse taste for displaying a fashion- 
able bonnet, which cannot be considered as in any de- 
gree a protection to the head, being at best merely an 
ornament. Both the head and the neck should be 
sufficiently protected to prevent chilling. The wearing 
of heavy fur scarfs and mufflers is, however, a practice 
to be condemned, as the amount of heat thus induced is 
so great as to produce perspiration, and, as a result, 
increased liability to colds. Woolen wrappings for the 
throat possess the advantage of being pervious to the 
air, and consequently less liable to excite undue activity 
of the skin. The throat should not be enveloped in so 
many folds as to occasion an excessive degree of heat. 

The practice of cutting the hair of men and boys 
very short, which has been much in vogue in recent 
years, must also be condemned as in the highest degree 
productive of catarrhal affections. The hair is intended 
as a protection to the scalp, and should be left suffi- 
ciently long to serve its purpose. No less to be con- 
demned are the enormous masses of hair sometimes worn 
by ladies, which overheat the head, and injure the 
scalp by their great weight. 

Too great stress cannot be laid upon the importance 
of proper clothing of the feet and lower limbs. Thin- 
soled shoes are scarcely better than no shoes at all, as 



548 -3£4iV, THE MASTERPIECE. 

they rapidly conduct the dampness through to the feet. 
The sole of the foot is very largely supplied with nerves , 
and is one of the most sensitive portions of the body. 
It is on this account that a cold is contracted more rap- 
idly by wetting or chilling the feet than by similar acci- 
dents to most other portions of the body. The shoes 
should be thick and warm, with heavy soles, and rubbers 
should be worn during wet weather, or when the shoes 
come in contact with moist surfaces. The wearing of 
rubbers or water-proof overshoes constantly, is not a 
healthful practice, however, as the moisture escaping 
from the surface of the feet is retained, so that they 
become wet, and injury may result as readily as though 
they were wet in any other way. 

Somewhat extended opportunities for observation 
have led us to the conclusion that an inactive state of 
the liver has some influence in predisposing an indi- 
vidual to catarrh. We have obseryed that a torpid 
liver is, in the majority of cases, associated with nasal 
catarrh ; and chemical examination shows that the dis- 
charges of the nasal cavity of a person suffering with 
catarrh contain a considerable quantity of cholesterine. 
The influence of diet, as the excessive use of fats, sugar, 
condiments, and numerous other unhealthful articles, in 
predisposing to catarrh, is unmistakable. Sedentary 
habits, by lowering the vital tone and lessening the 
resisting power of the individual, are predisposing causes 
which should be mentioned. 

Symptoms. — The symptoms of acute nasal catarrh, 
or cold in the head, are too familiar to most persons to re- 
quire more than a very brief description. The usual symp- 
toms are chilliness ; lassitude ; pain in the forehead ; a 



COMMON AILMENTS. 549 

watery discharge from the nose, which becomes yellow- 
ish and thick after two or three clays ; feverishness ; 
coated tongue ; and loss of appetite. The eyes are also 
frequently affected, being in most cases red and con- 
gested, and often suffused with tears. Frequently 
repeated acute catarrhs may finally give rise to chronic 
catarrh; however, the latter sometimes develops grad- 
ually, without being directly traceable to acute colds in 
the head. 

Chronic nasal catarrh, with which we are chiefly 
concerned, presents varied symptoms in its different 
stages. In the first stage of the disease, which is usu- 
ally known as simple chronic nasal catarrh, the symp- 
toms are similar to those experienced in the last stages 
of acute cold in the head. There is a more or less 
copious discharge from the nose, either through the 
nostrils, requiring the frequent use of the handkerchief, 
especially in the morning, or through the passage to the 
throat at the back of the nasal cavity, as indicated by a 
dropping at the back of the throat. The patient suffers 
more or less with a dull pain over the eyes, in the cheek 
bones, or at the back of the head, which is increased in 
damp weather or whenever a slight cold is taken. 

After a time the long-continued congestion and 
irritation of the nasal membrane gives rise to swellings 
and permanent thickenings of the mucous membrane and 
tissues underlying it in various parts of the nose, in con- 
sequence of which the several passages through the nose 
are more or less obstructed, so that breathing is inter- 
fered with, especially during sleep. On falling asleep, 
the patient involuntarily opens his mouth, not being 
able to secure a proper amount of air through the ob- 



550 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

structed nostrils without the aid of the voluntary effort 
which he habitually makes during waking hours. The 
obstruction of the nasal passages is also indicated by a 
decidedly nasal tone in the voice, or rather, absence of 
nasal resonance in the voice, giving the voice the pecul- 
iar qualities produced by speaking with the nose closed. 
A similar swelling and enlargement occurs in certain 
glands at the foot of the pharynx, or point at which the 
nasal cavity and the pharynx unite, known as the 
pharyngeal tonsil. This enlargement sometimes becomes 
so great as to almost wholly obstruct the passage be- 
tween the nose and the throat. We have met with 
cases where the opening, which is usually capacious, was 
not much larger than a goose quill. These obstructions 
produce, especially during sleep, various abnormal sounds 
in breathing. Snoring is always indicative of some ob- 
struction of this sort. 

Changes in the form of the nose also occur. The 
abnormal quantity of blood supplied to the mucous mem- 
brane lining the nasal cavity occasions an abnormal 
development of all the tissues ; and an enlargement and 
thickening of the upper part of the nose occurs, and 
also, in many cases, an elongation of the septum of the 
nose, the cartilaginous extremity of which often be- 
comes turned to one side. Very frequently, also, the 
central position of the septum deviates to one side, pro- 
ducing obstruction of the passage upon that side of the 
nose. Abnormal growths also appear in the nasal cav- 
ity, such as mucous and fibroid polypi, cartilaginous 
points, sometimes appearing as rounded prominences 
and in others as long ridges projecting from the vo- 
mer, either directly outward or downward. We have 



COMMON AILMENTS. 551 

frequently met cases in which nearly the whole na- 
sal cavity was an abnormal growth of this kind. At 
the time of this writing we have under treatment a 
patient from whose nasal cavity we have, within the 
past few weeks, removed eight polypi, most of which 
were of considerable size, and obstructed the nasal pas- 
sages in such a manner as to make breathing through the 
nose impossible. 

In many cases of catarrh, especially those in which 
the disease has advanced so far as to produce abnormal 
growths and permanent enlargement of the structures 
within the nasal cavity, the disease is accompanied by 
an offensive odor. The breath at times becomes very 
foul, and the patient may be easily led to believe that 
extensive destruction of the tissues in the nasal cavity is 
taking place. This is due to the accumulation of secre- 
tions in the nasal cavity, which, on account of the 
numerous obstructions, cannot be thoroughly cleansed, 
either through the anterior or posterior openings, and in 
consequence of long retention the catarrhal secretions 
undergo decomposition, giving to the breath a peculiar 
and offensive odor, characteristic of this stage of the 
disease. 

Dry Catarrh. — This state of things may continue for 
a few days or for a large part of a lifetime. Sooner or 
later, however, in the majority of cases, a still more 
advanced stage of the disease is reached, which is com- 
monly known as dry catarrh. In this form of the dis- 
ease, there is deficient activity of certain of the glands 
of the nose, due to atrophy or obstruction of the glands 
from long-continued pressure on account of the thicken- 
ing and abnormal growths already described. There 



552 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

are two kinds of glands in the nasal mucous membrane, 
one variety producing a thick, viscid mucus, the other, 
a liquid serum. The latter glands are destroyed first, 
so that the viscid mucus, which is not sufficiently fluid 
to escape through the passage of the nose, adhering 
to the surface of the mucous membrane, quickly dries, 
forming scabs, which soon putrefy, and produce an ex- 
ceedingly bad odor. In some cases, the odor of the 
breath is so intensely fetid as to produce loss of ap- 
petite, and great impairment of the general health. 

The patches of putrid mucus adhering to the mucous 
membrane produce excoriations, finally resulting in ul- 
ceration, which may even penetrate to the bony and 
cartilaginous structures of the nose, and thus occasion 
loss of the septum of the nose, and destruction of some 
of the bony prominences which project into the nasal 
cavity from the bones of the face. In this form of the 
disease, the patient usually experiences relief from some 
of the distressing symptoms suffered during the early 
stages of the malady. The obstruction to the nasal 
breathing is removed, and the various abnormal thicken- 
ings gradually shrink away, until the passage through 
the nose becomes so wide that the back of the throat 
can be easily seen through the nostrils. Patients of 
this class frequently remark that they suffered greatly 
with catarrh in early life, but have outgrown it, and 
wish treatment simply for the removal of the bad odor 
from the breath, to which their attention has usually 
been called by friends, it being generally the case that 
when the disease has advanced so far as in this class of 
cases, the sense of smell has been almost or entirely 
destroyed through the same destructive processes which 



COMMON AILMENTS. 553 



have removed the thickening and swellings which oc- 
curred in the earlier stages of the disease. 

The effects of nasal catarrh are not entirely confined 
to the nasal cavity. The irritating discharges dropping 
down into the throat, occasion gradual extension of the 
disease into the pharynx, causing thickening of the 
mucous membrane of this part, hypertrophy of the ton- 
sils, and elongation of the palate, which produces irrita- 
tion of the throat, unpleasant tickling sensations, and a 
variety of other sensations of an unpleasant character. 
It also extends farther downward into the larynx, caus- 
ing hoarseness and weakness of the voice, and occasion- 
ally its entire loss. 

Treatment. — We have now come to the most impor- 
tant and practical part of this subject. The treatment 
of nasal catarrh has afforded a rich field for quacks, and 
has been a source of almost infinite annoyance to physi- 
cians. It is only in recent years, and since the subject 
has been taken up by scientific specialists, that the 
disease has been managed in anything like a successful 
manner. We have no universal panacea. The disease 
is one which possesses individual peculiarities to a very 
large extent, and can be successfully treated only by a 
careful adaptation of remedies to individual cases. In 
the first place, we must condemn utterly the use of any 
of the popular catarrh specifics, inhalants, etc. These 
remedies are usually such as have proven successful in 
a few instances, and will benefit a certain proportion of 
cases, but are quite as likely to do harm to a larger 
number. The various popular nostrums advertised for 
the cure of catarrh are composed of substances which 
have been well known to the medical profession for 



554 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

years, and possess no such mysterious specific virtues as 
are attributed to them. 

We shall notice the treatment of the various forms 
of catarrh in the same order in which they have been 
described, beginning with the simplest form, an acute 
catarrh, or " cold in the head." 

How to Treat a " Cold in the Head." — To be suc- 
cessful, the treatment must be begun almost as soon as 
the cold is contracted. When an acute catarrh has 
already existed for two or three days, it is of no use to 
attempt abortive treatment, for the disease must run its 
course, although proper treatment will abridge the nat- 
ural course of the disease, which is from three to six 
weeks. 

If by exposure to cold air or a draught while the 
body is in a state of perspiration, by wetting the feet, 
or by similar means, the circulation has been disturbed, 
producing sneezing, snuffles, a stuffed feeling in the 
head, " watering " of the eyes, and a watery discharge 
from the nose (the usual symptoms of coryza), the 
patient must at once resort to some means to restore the 
circulation, and produce a proper activity of the skin, so 
as to withdraw the excess of blood from the mucous 
membrane of the nasal passages. An alcohol sweat, a 
vapor bath, a wet-sheet pack, a Turkish or Russian bath, 
or even a hot full bath, or any means by which vigorous 
activity of the skin may be induced, will be effective. 

After taking treatment of this sort, however, it 
should be recollected that considerable danger is incurred, 
since the disturbed condition of the system, which in- 
volves the nervous system as well as the circulatory ap- 
paratus, renders the person much more liable to make 



COMMON AILMENTS. 555 

large accessions to the cold already contracted, than be- 
fore the cold was contracted. The following plan is one 
well suited to home treatment : — 

Within an hour or two of the time the first symptoms 
of the cold appear, let the patient drink copiously of 
some hot drink, which may be simply hot water, or 
weak hot lemonade, or diluted infusions of catnip, pep- 
permint, or almost any one of the numerous domestic 
remedies used for this purpose. From two to three 
pints of hot water should be taken in the course of an 
hour or two. During the water drinking, some one of the 
various forms of hot bath mentioned should be taken, so 
as to produce vigorous perspiration, which will be aided 
by the hot-water drinking. After the bath, the patient 
should immediately go to bed, covering up warm with 
woolen blankets, so as to continue the activity of the 
skin in a moderate degree for several hours. If the bath 
is taken at night, the patient should receive, the next 
morning, a salt-rub, which consists in rubbing the whole 
surface of the body with common salt, mixed with water 
to the consistency of mush. 

After the rub, the body should be sponged with tepid 
water so as to remove the salt, and then rubbed dry. 
The delightful smoothness of the skin which is produced 
by this means will be sufficient inducement to repeat the 
bath at sufficiently frequent intervals to overcome the 
susceptibility to chilling. The body should be rubbed 
with olive or cocoanut oil after the bath. Vaseline may 
be used in the absence of anything better. When a full 
sweating bath cannot be taken, a thorough sweat can 
sometimes be produced by a hot foot bath and' copious 
hot-water drinking, followed by a few hours in bed, 
wrapped in warm blankets. 



556 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

The unpleasant sensations in the nose and head can 
be best relieved by sponging or bathing the face with 
hot water, applying hot fomentations to the forehead or 
back of the head when there is pain in these parts, and 
snuffing up the nostrils a solution of common salt in 
water, a teaspoonful to the pint. The temperature of 
the water should be at least 105° or 110°, or as hot as 
can be borne without discomfort. When the throat is 
sore, hot fomentations or hot sponging should be applied 
to the throat, to be followed by a cold throat pack to be 
worn all night. 

When the cold has continued two or three days, so 
that there is a thick, yellow discharge from the nose, 
and dropping at the back of the throat, the treatment 
must be such as will be recommended for simple chronic 
catarrh. 

Treatment of Simple Chronic Nasal Catarrh. — This 
is by far the most common of all forms of nasal catarrh. 
It is chiefly characterized by the thick, yellow discharge 
which necessitates the frequent blowing of the nose, and 
the use of the handkerchief, or clearing from the throat 
the thick mucous discharges which are constantly drop- 
ping into it from the back part of the nasal cavity. 
Either or both of these prominent symptoms may be 
present, according as the disease is chiefly located in the 
anterior or posterior part of the nasal cavity, or through- 
out the whole extent of the nasal mucous membrane. 
Other symptoms of this form of the disease which we 
have previously described, we do not need to recapitu- 
late. The examination of the nasal mucous membrane 
by means of instruments for the purpose, shows the 
affected portion to be red and swollen with congestion, 



COMMON AILMENTS. 557 

and covered more or less with a thick yellow discharge 
which is characteristic of this stage of the disease. The 
indications for treatment are two : 1. To cleanse the 
diseased mucous surfaces 5 and 2. To apply such reme- 
dies as will remove the congestion, and induce a healthy 
action in the mucous membrane. 

Cleansing of the Nasal Cavities. — For this purpose 
a solution is required which will not irritate the mucous 
membrane, and at the same time will possess the prop- 
erty of dissolving the nasal mucus. Pure water will 
answer neither of these purposes. The fluid naturally 
secreted by the nasal mucous membrane is slightly 
saline. When pure water is injected into the nasal 
cavity, it is absorbed too rapidly by the mucous mem- 
brane, so that it becomes quickly swollen, producing 
pressure upon the sensitive nerves, thus giving pain. 
The addition of a small quantity of common salt or car- 
bonate of soda increases the specific gravity of the water, 
giving it more nearly the character of the normal nasal 
fluid. The amount of salt required to produce a solution 
most nearly corresponding with the natural fluid, is one 
dram, or an even teaspoonful, to a pint of water. Both 
common salt and carbonate of soda, especially the latter, 
possess the property of dissolving with readiness the 
nasal mucus. Borax also possesses this property to 
some degree. These substances, therefore, are the 
proper ones for use in making the solution. The follow- 
ing formulae are thoroughly satisfactory : — 

1. Common salt, an even teaspoonful; soft water, 
warm, one pint. To be used in cases in which there is 
only a small quantity of discharge. 

2. Common salt, one-half teaspoonful ; carbonate of 



558 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

soda, one-half teaspoonful ; soft water, warm, one pint. 
To be used in eases in which there is an abundant 
discharge. 

3. We frequently add glycerine to either or both of 
the solutions in the proportion of an ounce to the pint of 
the solution. 

The temperature of the solution is a matter of no 
small importance. The water employed for cleansing 
the nasal cavity should never be at a temperature lower 
than that of the body, or about 100° F., and an exten- 
sive experience in the use of solutions of various sub- 
stances and different temperatures has convinced us that 
hot water is more effective than warm. We had long 
held the belief that hot water would be found as effect- 
ive in the treatment of nasal catarrh as it is well known 
to be in other parts of the body ; but had been deterred 
from making decisive experiments by the belief that the 
thinness of the structures lining the nasal cavity was 
such that water of a high temperature would be intoler- 
able. On making experiments, however, we found to 
our surprise that a very high temperature was borne 
without discomfort, and that a temperature considerably 
above that of the body was more comfortable than a 
lower temperature. In our experiments, a temperature 
of 130° to 140° taken in the reservoir, was found to be 
tolerated without discomfort. We believe that the tem- 
perature of the douche should be rarely less than 120° 
F., and may be employed at 130° in most cases, and 
even higher in some. 

Having our solutions ready, we are now prepared for 
the operation of cleansing the nasal cavity, which is a 
very important part of the treatment of all forms of nasal 



COMMON AILMENTS. 559 



catarrh, and should be thoroughly understood and care- 
fully practiced. 

How to Cleanse the Nasal Cavities. — There are sev- 
eral methods by which the affected cavities may be 
thoroughly and effectively cleansed. Some of these 
possess special advantages, as simplicity, freedom from 
danger, etc. We shall mention first the most simple 
methods, which do not require other appliances than 
those which are found in every household. 

First Method. — The simplest and most efficient 
method of cleansing the nasal cavity, consists in 
drawing water into the nose from the hand, snuffing 
it up with sufficient vigor to expose the whole surface 
to the cleansing action. After the solution has been 
prepared, care being taken to give it the proper temper- 
ature, a portion should be dipped up in the palm of the 
hand, shaped so as to form a scoop for the purpose, and, 
with the head bent forward so as to make the line of the 
face nearly horizontal, the water should be snuffed up 
strongly into first one nostril, then the other; refill- 
ing the hand, the head should be placed at an angle of 
forty-five degrees with the body, or about half way 
between the perpendicular and horizontal plane, and the 
operation repeated. Filling the hand again, it should be 
brought to the nose with the head held in a perpendicu- 
lar position, the water being snuffed as before. By 
snuffing the water into the nostrils with the head held 
in these three positions, the whole nasal cavity, and even 
the extreme back portion, may be thoroughly cleansed. 
A sufficient amount of water should be used in each po- 
sition, to secure the thorough cleansing of the nasal cavi- 
ties from every particle of cohering mucus, — a condition 



560 MAN, TEE MASTERPIECE. 

which will be indicated by the readiness with which the 
air can be drawn through the nostrils, and the sense of 
comfort and cleanliness which will be experienced when 
the cleansing is effectively performed. 

Second Method. — A somewhat more convenient mode 
of cleansing the nasal cavities consists in substituting a 
sponge for the hand. The sponge, being saturated with 
the cleansing solution, is brought to the nose with the 
head held in the different positions previously indicated, 
and placed over the nostrils in such a way as to insure 
the entrance of the fluid into the nostrils when the air is 
drawn through the sponge. The entrance of the air and 
water together, which is secured by this method, as well 
as the preceding, is favorable to the most thorough 
cleansing, as the water is broken up into a coarse spray, 
which strikes forcible the various portions of the mem- 
brane, and dislodges the adhering mucus. 

Third Method. — The nasal douche is one of the old- 
est methods in use for cleansing the nasal cavity, and 
when properly used, is a very satisfactory method. The 
requisite conditions for its proper use are : 1. A reser- 
voir containing the water, which must be placed just 
above the level of the head, so that the water will flow 
gently through the nasal cavities without too great 
force ; 2. The mouth should be held open with the 
head inclined slightly forward; 3. The patient should 
avoid swallowing while taking the douche. These 
directions are necessary to avoid the one danger con- 
nected with the employment of this method, namely, 
the liability of forcing a portion of the fluid through the 
Eustachian tubes into the middle ear, and thus setting 
up an acute inflammation, which may result in the 



COMMON AILMENTS. 561 

impairment of hearing. This accident has occurred so 
frequently in connection with the use of the nasal 
douche, that many specialists have condemned it alto- 
gether as too dangerous for common use. If the direc- 
tions given are carefully observed, however, it may be 
used without danger. 

Fourth Method. — The post-nasal douche is another 
method which cleanses the nasal cavities in a more 
effective manner than any one of the methods before 
given, and hence is especially adapted to those cases of 
catarrh in which there is a very troublesome dropping 
at the back of the throat. For administering the post- 
nasal douche, a tube shaped something like the italic 
letter/ is required. The upper end of the tube must be 
passed into the mouth to the back of the throat, then 
upward behind the velum, or soft palate. The head 
should be inclined forward, so that the injected fluid 
may flow out through the nose with ease. The reservoir 
should be held a short distance above the head, so that 
the water will not flow with too great force. The same 
care must be observed respecting swallowing, as there is 
some danger of forcing water into the Eustachian tubes, 
with this method as well as the preceding. One of the 
best forms of syringes' for administering both the nasal 
and post-nasal douches is that known as the syphon 
syringe, which is shown in use in the accompanying cut. 
The position of the patient as shown in the cut is not 
properly represented by the artist. The head should be 
inclined forward, as already stated. 

Fifth Method. — Another very effective method for 
cleansing the nasal cavity, is by means of the air 
atomizer. The atomizer produces a coarse spray with 

36 



562 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

considerable force, and is best for this purpose. The 
spray should be directed into each nostril in various 
directions to insure cleansing of the entire surface, and 
in cases requiring it, may also be directed behind the 
soft palate, thus cleansing the back part of the nasal 
cavity also. 

Medicated Solutions. — Having cleansed thoroughly 
the nasal cavity by some one of the various methods, 
we are now prepared to apply a medicated solution for 
the purpose of relieving the chronic congestion of the 
membrane, and inducing a more healthy action. In 
cases of simple catarrh, the thorough application of the 
cleansing solution alone is often sufficient to effect in 
time an entire cure. In very chronic cases, however, 
and in most severe cases, great good may be done by 
the application of solutions, astringent in character, 
which will cause the contraction of the blood-vessels of 
the swollen membrane, thus relieving the congestion and 
diminishing the secretion of the mucous and serous 
glands, and in this way gradually checking the discharge. 
A variety of astringent solutions may be used with good 
results. A point of paramount importance is that the 
solution should always be weak. Strong, irritating 
solutions should never be employed. 

The following are among the most useful remedies of 
this sort which we have found : Sulphate of iron or 
copperas, sulphate of zinc or white vitriol, ferric alum, 
and tannin. Each of these should be used in the pro- 
portion of one dram by weight to the pint of soft water. 
A solution stronger than this should never be employed, 
and in some cases it will be necessary to diminish its 
strength at first by adding an equal quantity of water, 



COMMON AILMENTS. 563 

which should be gradually lessened until the membrane 
will tolerate the solution in full strength. The four reme- 
dies mentioned will usually accomplish- all that can be 
done by medicated solutions in this class of cases, and 
our experience in using these remedies in hundreds of 
cases has led us to be well pleased with their effects. 
The medicated solution may be applied by any one of 
the methods above described, but we consider the air 
atomizer the best of all means of applying them, as it 
thoroughly distributes the solution over the entire mucous 
surface. The saturated sponge is perhaps the next best 
method for applying these solutions. Only a sufficient 
quantity should be applied to thoroughly cleanse the 
entire mucous membrane. From half an ounce to an 
ounce is sufficient to accomplish this. When the atom- 
izer is used, a much less quantity will suffice. 

While all the remedies mentioned are efficient, each 
one may be more especially adapted to some particular 
case, and hence one after another may be tried if the 
case proves obstinate, or two or more may be used in 
alternation. 

We have been particularly pleased with the results 
following the use of ferric alum in a large number of 
cases, and have usually reserved the iron and zinc solu- 
tions for cases which would not yield to the remedy 
mentioned. 

Hay -Fever. — Dr. Morell Mackenzie writes as follows 
respecting the management of this very eccentric and 
annoying malady : — 

" The treatment of hay-fever is by no means satis- 
factory, and in no disease is the old adage, that c preven- 
tion is better than cure,' more truly applicable than in 



564 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

the case of this complaint. If the poison be continually 
introduced into the system, the antidote, if one exist, 
can have but little chance of effecting a cure. The first 
measure, therefore, must be to remove the patient from 
a district in which there is much flowering grass. A 
sea voyage is probably the most perfectly satisfactory 
step that can be taken. Patients who are unable to go 
to sea should endeavor to reside on the coast, where 
they will generally be free from their troublesome com- 
plaint, except when the land-breezes blow. Dwellers in 
towns should avoid the country, and those who reside in 
the country should make a temporary stay in the limits 
of a large town. It often happens, however, that such 
a change of abode is not practicable ; and under such 
circumstances, if the complaint be very severe, the 
patient should, if possible, remain in-doors during the 
whole of the hay season. Many persons, of course, can- 
not keep in the house during the month or six weeks of 
the hay-fever period ; and those who can are apt to find 
such detention not only irksome, but very injurious to 
the general health. If, therefore, a patient be obliged 
to go out of doors, he should plug his nostrils with 
cotton-wool or wadding, and should defend his eyes by 
wearing spectacles with large frames, accurately adapted 
to the circumference of the orbits. Plugging the lachry- 
mal ducts with small glass rods has also been recom- 
mended, and Thorowgood speaks favorably of a little 
apparatus containing a few drops of camphorated or 
carbolized solution, which can be comfortably worn in 
the nostrils. Instead oi plugging the nose, it has been 
advised to close it by compression with a little metal 
clip. As rapid motion in the open air almost always 



COMMON AILMENTS. 555 



aggravates the complaint, it may be advantageous to 
wear a veil over the face while driving. One made of 
' three ply ' of fine silk gauze has been found very use- 
ful. It is recommended that it should be made in the 
form of a bag open at both ends, one end fitting round 
the hat, while the other has attached to it a heavy wire 
ring about ten inches in diameter, which lies on the 
shoulders, and keeps the veil off the face. Those who 
do not mind being occasionally mistaken for the ' veiled 
prophet of Khorassan,' will, no doubt, adopt this plan. 
Protected in this way, many people predisposed to hay- 
fever escape altogether, while others contract the affec- 
tion in a very mild form." 

The unhappy victim of hay-fever who has to undergo 
the operation of having his nose stopped with cotton- 
wool, his lachrymal ducts plugged with glass rods, and 
his eyes encased in goggles, would undoubtedly be glad 
to wear a veil to hide his face from the curious gaze of 
the cruel public, and is certainly to be pitied ; neverthe- 
less, we have seen decided advantage gained by follow- 
ing the suggestion to plug the nostrils with cotton and 
protect the eyes when riding or walking in the open air. 

We would add another measure of prevention not 
mentioned by the distinguished writer from whom we 
have quoted. Our observation has been that persons 
who suffer the most severely with hay-fever are invaria- 
bly those who are subject to catarrh during other seasons 
of the year, usually in a chronic form, as a result of 
which the mucous membrane of the nose is in a swollen 
and thickened condition, obstructing the nasal passages 
to a greater or less degree. A slight additional irritation, 
such as the cause of hay-fever produces, is sufficient to 



566 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

produce almost complete obstruction of the nose ; and 
through reflex action, spasm of the air tubes of the lungs 
is produced, making breathing difficult, and often occa- 
sioning most aggravating distress. 

Experience with a large number of cases of this sort 
has convinced us that hay-fever is a curable affection, 
notwithstanding the general belief to the contrary. 
There are always to be found in these cases certain 
sensitive points in the nasal cavity which may be treated 
by galvano-cautery applications in such a manner as to 
overcome the hyper-sensitiveness which gives rise to the 
distressing symptoms of the disorder. 

Moist Tetter, or Salt-Rheum. — This disease is 
essentially catarrh of the skin. Its characteristics are 
too well known to require description. It is a scaly 
disease of the skin, usually attended by intense and 
persistent itching. The itching is generally most 
thoroughly relieved by hot bathing of the parts. If the 
hands or feet alone are affected, they may be soaked in 
water as hot as can be borne, several times a day, for 
ten or fifteen minutes, and on removal, a little olive -oil 
or cocoanut-oil should be applied, so as to protect the 
surface from the air. Sponging the parts with water in 
which bi-carbonate of soda has been dissolved in the 
proportion of one large teaspoonful to the pint of water, 
is a good means of affording relief. In advanced cases, 
in which the skin has become dry and thickened, with a 
tendency to crack, the use of an unguent of equal parts 
of zinc ointment and tar ointment is probably the most 
effective application which can be made. This prepara- 
tion is much used in the skin hospitals of New York 
City and by specialists. 



COMMON AILMENTS. 567 

Warts, — Warts are due to excessive growth of the 
papillse of the skin. They occur most frequently upon 
the hands of young persons. They are occasionally 
seen upon the face. The idea that warts are conta- 
gious has little foundation. Warts of the face are liable 
to degenerate into cancers. 

Treatment. — After thoroughly oiling the skin about 
the wart, touch it with the end of a stick dipped in nitric 
acid. Acetic acid may also be used for the same pur- 
pose. The application should be repeated every few 
days until the wart is destroyed. Warts sometimes dis- 
appear very suddenly, which has given rise to the idea 
that they may be driven off by various maneuvers sup- 
posed to possess the power of dispersing them in a 
magical manner. It is possible that in these cases the 
imagination may be instrumental in effecting a cure. 

Granular Sore Eyelids. — This very common affec- 
tion is many times the outgrowth of a scrofulous habit of 
the system, but is not infrequently the result of repeated 
inflammations of the eyes. It sometimes results from a 
single attack of granular conjunctivitis. It ought to be 
known that the disease is sometimes contagious. It is 
often communicated through the medium of a common 
towel in families and boarding-schools. It cannot be 
contracted, as many people suppose, by simply looking 
at a person suffering with sore eyes. 

One of the most efficient remedies is the hot water 
spray applied locally, or laving the eye with hot water. 
The temperature should be as hot as can be borne with- 
out discomfort, the application being continued ten or 
fifteen minutes, and made twice a day. We have cured, 
hy this treatment alone, some very obstinate cases of 



568 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

many years' standing, which had resisted many other 
methods of treatment. 

Nettle Rash, or Hives. — This is a nervous affection 
of the skin in which blotches resembling those of the 
nettle-sting appear upon the surface, accompanied by 
itching and burning sensations. Disturbance of diges- 
tion is the usual cause. For immediate relief, bathe 
the parts with a solution of soda or saleratus, a tea- 
spoonful to the pint of hot water. Simple sponging 
with hot water, or hot salt and water, a tablespoonful 
to the quart, is in some cases still more effective. 
The exciting cause must be removed to effect a per- 
manent cure. 

Constipation of the Bowels. — Inactivity of the 
bowels may be due to any one of several causes. One 
of the most common causes is a torpid state of the 
liver. In cases in which the stool is hard and dry, the 
immediate cause is deficiency of secretion on the part 
of the intestinal mucous membrane. The following 
suggestions will be found helpful : 1. Eat coarse food, 
such as cracked wheat, peas, beans, vegetables, etc. 
Avoid meat and condiments, tea, coffee, fats, pastry, 
and all unwholesome articles of food. 2. Drink two 
to four. pints of water daily. The water should be 
taken an hour before the meal, and not within two 
hours after. 3. Wear at night a wet abdominal band- 
age, consisting of a towel wrung out of cold water dry 
enough so it will not drip, and covered with several 
thicknesses of dry flannel. The towel should be long 
enough to go around the body two or three times. It 
should be taken off in the morning, and the surface of 
the body rubbed for a while with the hand dipped in 



COMMON AILMENTS. 5^'J 

cold water. Two or three times a day knead and per- 
cuss the bowels with the hands for five or ten minutes 
very thoroughly. 

Boils. — A boil originates in the death of a small por- 
tion of the deep tissues of the skin, which generally in- 
volves a sweat or a sebaceous gland. Inflammation is the 
natural process by which the dead tissue is separated from 
the living. The boil first appears as a red and some- 
what painful nodule in the skin, about the size of a 
bean or pea. Very soon a white point forms at the 
apex; swelling spreads about the center, usually at- 
taining about the size of a dollar. At the end of 
four or five days, the central portion, marked by a 
white point, becomes loosened, and a discharge occurs 
consisting of a plug, or core, together with the matter, 
blood, and fragments of dead tissue. The suppuration 
generally ceases in three or four days. 

Treatment. — Boils may often be cut short if treated 
early by continuous applications of ice. The best 
plan that can be recommended for general em- 
ployment is the early application of hot fomenta- 
tions, by which the pain may be relieved, and the 
natural process hastened. When there is a great deal 
of general irritability, warm full baths are very ad- 
vantageous. 

If the boil does not open promptly, it should be 
freely lanced, after suppuration has taken place, as 
shown by softening. Warm poultices should be con- 
tinued after lancing. Blind boils should be lanced and 
poulticed. The practice of squeezing boils is a very 
injurious one, as the matter is thereby dispersed into 
the surrounding tissues, often producing a numerous 



570 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

crop of boils in the vicinity of the first one. The 
discharge of matter should be secured by a large 
opening and gentle pressure. 

A contributor to a medical contemporary asserts that 
he has cured boils while in their incipiency, during the 
last thirty years, by gently rubbing the red pimple 
which first appears, and claims that in a few moments 
the redness will disappear, and frequently the pimple 
itself, and all trace of inflammation will be obliterated. 
Boils should not be left to " come to a head." As 
soon as there is evidence of the presence of pus, they 
should be opened with a sharp lancet. 

Corns. — Corns, or callouses, on the soles of the feet 
are often very painful, and occasion great inconvenience. 
If very tender and swollen, with redness of the 
tissues round about, the proper remedy is rest, lying 
in a horizontal position, accompanied by proper use 
of poultices, until the soreness and irritation disappear. 
After the tenderness has subsided, a loose shoe should 
be worn; and to relieve the corn of pressure, apply 
over it a thick piece of buckskin or felt, with 
an opening in the middle the size of the callous. By 
this means, the pressure can be wholly taken off the 
callous, and nature will in due time effect a cure. If 
the skin is very thick, it may be softened by the appli- 
cation of compresses wet in soda-water and saccharated 
solutions. In a short time, the skin becomes softened, 
so it- can be easily scraped off. 

Freckles. — There are two kinds of freckles. Those 
which are produced by exposure to sun and wind are 
very superficial, and are easily removed by such sub- 
stances as will remove the superficial cellular layers of 



COMMON AILMENTS. 571 



the skin. Among the best remedies for this purpose are 
the following : — 

1. Three tablespoonfuls of fresh scraped horse-radish; 
buttermilk, a pint. Allow to soak six or eight hours, 
shaking occasionally. Cider vinegar is sometimes used 
in place of the milk. Apply to the face at night, leav- 
ing on till morning. 

2. Two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice ; an equal 
quantity of water ; a tablespoonful of glycerine ; a heap- 
ing teaspoonful of powdered borax. Apply three or 
four times a day, drying after fifteen or twenty minutes 
with a fluffy towel. 

Oily Skin. — In some persons there is an excessive 
production of sebaceous matter, or sebum, due to morbid 
activity of the fat glands of the skin. The skin of 
such persons presents a shiny look. Little beads of 
oily matter may be seen at the mouths of the glands 
near the roots of the hairs. The forehead, nose, and 
cheeks are most frequently affected. When the scalp is 
affected, the condition may be indicated by soiling of 
the pillow. Acne is frequently accompanied by this 
condition. 

Treatment. — The only treatment to be employed is 
the frequent application of soap. When many of the 
glands are clogged up, as indicated by the abundance of 
grubs, the surface should first be thoroughly rubbed 
with warm oil. Cocoanut or almond oil is the best. 
After half an hour, the surface should be rubbed with a 
flannel cloth, thoroughly saturated with soap moistened 
with warm water, and stretched over the fingers ; or a 
soft sponge may be used. This is best done at night, 
just before retiring. When the secretion of fat is very 



572 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

profuse, the operation may be repeated two or three 
times a day. 

Dandruff. — This is a condition in which branny 
scales are shed from the scalp in great abundance. 

Treatment. — Restore the general health by proper 
attention to the digestion and general hygiene. For 
dandruff of the face, apply the same remedies recom- 
mended for the skin. The scalp should be treated in 
the same way, by gentle shampooing with ordinary 
washing soap, once or twice a week. A very soft brush 
should be used. Neither a stiff brush nor a fine comb 
should ever be used for removing dandruff. For sham- 
pooing, a liniment composed of equal parts of castor-oil 
and alcohol may be rubbed on the scalp, or an ointment 
composed of a dram of tannin to an ounce of vaseline. 

Chilblains. — A gentleman called at our office the 
other day, suffering with what his physicians had termed 
eczema of the feet. The heels and sides of the feet were 
red and slightly swollen and exceedingly painful. The 
trouble began with freezing the feet several years ago, 
as we found by inquiry. The case was evidently one of 
chronic erythema, an inflammation or congestion of the 
skin, or what might not improperly be termed, chronic 
chilblains. The following treatment cured him: 1. 
Bathe the feet with very hot water for fifteen or twenty 
minutes every night; 2. After bathing the feet with hot 
water, rub them well with benzoated zinc ointment. 

Foul and Profuse Perspiration. — Just before re- 
tiring at night, take a hot and cold foot bath, dipping 
the feet first in cold water then in hot, allowing them to 
remain in each for about one-half minute, and repeating 
the operation fifteen or twenty times. Then wipe with 



COMMON AILMENTS. 573 

a soft towel, and when nearly dry, rub with subnitrate 
of bismuth, using a large teaspoonful for each foot. 

Piles. — Piles, or hemorrhoids, is a disease in which 
the veins of the rectum, through obstruction of the portal 
circulation, have become varicose. The tumors or hard 
bunches which protrude from the rectum are usually di- 
lated or thickened veins, the distended walls of which fre- 
quently become so thin as to rupture, thus causing hemor- 
rhage. This may vary in degree from a small streak of 
blood upon the passage to so great a quantity as to en- 
danger the patient's life. A cure of this disorder con- 
sists in removing the cause, which may be a congested 
liver producing habitual constipation of the bowels, and, 
in most cases, removal of the hemorrhoidal tumors by 
some one of the various approved methods is necessary. 

When a movement of the bowels is accompanied 
by very great pain, the patient will experience great re- 
lief by sitting over a vessel filled with very hot water, 
the steam arising from it causing the irritated parts to 
become relaxed. Take a hot sitz bath, temperature 
104° F. Take a hot enema when the bowels move, tem- 
perature 105° to 110°, and repeat the enema after the 
movement of the bowels. The sitz bath and the enema 
may be repeated two or three times a day. When there 
is much bleeding, the use of a decoction of hamamelis, or 
witch-hazel, made by adding one ounce of the fluid ex- 
tract to a pint of water, is beneficial. One-fourth pint 
of this decoction should be used by enema after each 
movement of the bowels, and at night just before re- 
tiring. The local application of a cold compress is a 
useful measure not to be neglected. Of the various 
ointments recommended for use, an ointment composed 



574 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

of fl. ex. hamamelis one part and vaseline three parts, is 
one of the most useful. Subsulphate of iron is also a 
good astringent for use in these cases. It may be ap- 
plied as an ointment, twelve grains to the ounce of vase- 
line. Use twice a day. In bad cases the patient must 
remain in a horizontal position until the hemorrhage is 
permanently controlled, or for at least half an hour after 
each movement of the bowels. Such cases require a 
surgical operation for a radical cure. 

Red Nose. — This very annoying affection, which is 
usually, but not always, the result of the free use of 
alcoholic liquors, or indulgence in excesses of eating, 
may usually be relieved by very simple treatment if 
thoroughly carried out. The treatment consists in bath- 
ing the face and nose with water as hot as can be 
borne for five minutes three times a day. Once in 
two or three days the nose should be painted with 
two or three coats of flexible collodion, which will at 
once, by contraction, compress the dilated blood-vessels, 
and remove the red color. The only objection to the 
use of collodion is that it gives the nose the appear- 
ance of having been varnished, but one who is really 
desirous of being relieved of this source of annoyance, 
will be willing to put up with this slight inconvenience 
for a few weeks. 

Baldness. — If the scalp is smooth and shiny, no 
remedy will be of any service. If small, fine hairs are 
present, improvement may be secured by the employ- 
ment of such means as will stimulate the hair follicles. 
The best of all stimulants is bathing of the head 
every day with cold water, accompanied by gentle 
friction, as rubbing with the ends of the fingers until 
the scalp is red, and gently brushing with a soft brush. 



COMMON AILMENTS. 575 

Aene, or Face Pimples. — The small pimples which 
appear upon the face about the age of puberty are often 
very annoying, owing to the supposition- that they in- 
dicate that the patient has been addicted to self-abuse, 
and sometimes make the individual very wretched, who 
happens to be afflicted with this very annoying affec- 
tion. From quite extensive observations, we are 
inclined to think that acne is due to the cause men- 
tioned only in very rare cases, except when it is con- 
fined to the forehead chiefly. The best means of relief 
are bathing the face with hot water two or three times 
a day, and the application once or twice a day of a mild 
astringent solution. We have found most useful a solu- 
tion of white vitriol, or sulphate of zinc, one dram to 
the pint of water. It should be applied with a cloth or 
soft sponge, care being taken to prevent any of the solu- 
tion from getting into the eye. 

In obstinate cases of acne of long standing, especially 
that form known as acne rosacea, in which the face is 
covered by unsightly blotches, more radical measures of 
treatment are required; but the remedies to be em- 
ployed are not such as can be safely placed in the hands 
of any one not skilled in their use. The author has 
found carbolic acid and acid nitrate of mercury, and the 
application of the galvano-cautery the best means of re- 
lieving these cases, and has always derived most satis- 
factory results from their use. 

Mouth- Breathing. — Few persons are aware that this 
practice, so very common, is particularly harmful, and 
may be surprised when we say that it is exceedingly det- 
rimental to health, even dangerously so. It is generally 
due to obstructions in the nasal cavities, either through 



576 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

thickening or swelling of the mucous membrane, or the 
existence of polypi or other morbid growths. Some- 
times it is due to habit merely. A child catches cold. 
The nasal passages become obstructed, necessitating 
mouth-breathing during sleep, when respiration is invol- 
untary, and hence less forcible than during the waking 
hours. The cold is soon recovered from, but the habit 
has been contracted, and is continued even to adult years, 
or during an entire lifetime. 

Enlargement of the tonsils is also a common cause of 
mouth-breathing. 

Habitual mouth-breathing ultimately results in seri- 
ous disease of the throat and larynx. It is also the 
cause of a peculiar malformation of the chest known as 
u pigeon's breast." 

The remedy consists in the application of such meas- 
ures as will remove the obstructions, if present. Polypi 
must be removed. Morbid growths must be removed or 
destroyed. Catarrh, if present, must be cured. If 
mouth-breathing is a habit merely, as is often the case, 
especially with children, care should be taken to instruct 
the child to breathe through the nose, and when he goes 
to sleep, the lips should be gently closed. By persever- 
ance, the habit may be cured. In some cases, a cap for 
the head and chin, arranged in such a way as to hold the 
mouth closed, is necessary to cure this very injurious 
habit. 

Sleeplessness. — This most annoying and exhausting 
symptom may be greatly relieved by attention to the 
following suggestions : — 

1. Retire early, having taken, an hour, or so before, 
sufficient muscular exercise to induce slight weariness. 



COMMON AILMENTS. 577 



2. Eat nothing within four hours of bed-time. If 
" faint " at the stomach, drink half a glass of hot lemon- 
ade. If this does not suffice, a mellow, ^sweet, or sub- 
acid apple may be taken an hour before retiring, unless 
fruit occasions pain or acidity. 

3. If feverish, the skin being hot and dry, take a 
light hand bath with tepid water upon retiring. 

4. If troubled with cold feet and hands, employ the 
means suggested for the cure of cold feet. 

5. Sleep in a cool room, but take care to see that the 
bedding is well aired and dry, and the room well 
ventilated. 

6. When nervousness causes loss of sleep, there are 
various methods of inducing slumber, one of the most 
efficient being slow, deep, and steady breathing. By 
this means the lungs are filled with blood, and the brain 
is thus relieved of the congestion which causes wake- 
fulness. 

Heart-Burn. — A teaspoonful of wheat charcoal, taken 
immediately after a meal, is an excellent non-medicinal 
remedy for this uncomfortable derangement of digestion. 
A teaspoonful of glycerine taken just before or just after 
a meal is useful for the same purpose. 

Acute Sore Throat. — Among the best remedies for 
this common affection is hot water. It should be applied 
outside and inside ; outside by means of flannels wrung 
out of water as hot as can be borne, applied to the throat 
and well covered, twice a day for fifteen minutes or half 
an hour. Gargle hot water, as hot as can be borne, 
every fifteen minutes or half an hour until relieved. 
Drink plenty of hot water, so as to get into a profuse 
perspiration. A few hours of this treatment will effect 
a cure in simple cases. 37 



578 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

Sneezing. — This symptom consists in an explosive 
expiratory effort, the air being expelled through both the 
mouth and the nose, but chiefly through the former. It 
is oftenest occasioned by irritation of the nasal and mu- 
cous membrane. It may arise from titillation, inhalation 
of dust, congestion incident to taking cold, or congestion 
present in influenza and hay-fever. It is, in some cases, 
a purely nervous symptom. With many persons, sneezing 
is excited by looking at the sun or at a bright light. 

Treatment. — This symptom rarely becomes so trouble- 
some as to require special attention by way of treatment, 
and yet it is often at least convenient to be possessed of 
a remedy to check or relieve it. The disposition to 
sneeze can ordinarily be relieved by rubbing the nose 
between the thumb and ringer. ■ It may also be checked 
by pressing the ringer against the upper lip, just below 
the nose. In some cases, the nasal douche, adminis- 
tered with a fountain syringe, is essential. The best 
solution to be employed is a teaspoonful of common salt, 
dissolved in a pint of tepid water, or fifteen to twenty 
drops of carbolic acid, well dissolved in the same amount 
of water. 

Ivy Poisoning. — The susceptibility of poisoning by 
poison-oak seems to be due in a large degree to a sort of 
idiosyncrasy. Very few persons are likely to be poi- 
soned unless they come in immediate contact with it. 
The result of poisoning with this plant is an inflamma- 
tion of the skin, which in some cases is very violent. 
The best remedy in such an attack is application of 
cloths wet in cold water, or iced lime-water. Alternate 
hot and cold sponging of the part is frequently effect- 
ive. The patient should drink a quantity of hot water, 



COMMON AILMENTS. 579 



which is useful in producing perspiration, and this 
should be followed by a wet-sheet pack or vapor bath. 
Sponging of the parts alternately with hot and cold 
water is of use in removing the swelling after the 
acuteness of the attack is passed. 

The Tobacco Habit. — This habit, when well fixed 
upon an individual, is scarcely less difficult of abandon- 
ment, in many cases, than the use of opium. Some 
persons are able to renounce the accustomed pipe or 
cigar at once, even after the habit has been indulged for 
many years ; while others are only able to succeed after 
repeated attempts. 

Treatment. — The secret of success in the treatment 
of the tobacco habit, is in relieving the system entirely 
from the influence of the drug as quickly as possible. 
This is best done after the patient has discontinued the 
habit, by the use of hot-air, vapor, Turkish, and Russian 
baths, or by the use of the wet-sheet pack. The last- 
named remedy is quite as effective as any of the others. 

Writer 3 s Cramp. — Symptoms: Fatigue and a sense 
of insecurity in the arm and hand ; patient grasps his 
pen too firmly ; fingers seem clumsy ; pen jerked up and 
down by twitching of the muscles of the hand and arm. 
Treatment. — In many cases, absolute rest of the af- 
fected muscles is necessary. This frequently necessitates 
a change of occupation. Every possible attention should 
be given to improvement of the general health. The 
application of galvanism to the affected muscles is an 
effective remedy in many cases. Hot sponging, alternate 
hot and cold applications, and massage are also of use. 
Some patients obtain the needed relief of the affected 
part by learning to write with the other hand ; but, un- 



580 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

fortunately, in many cases this also becomes affected. 
Some relief from the disagreeable jerking may be obtained 
by the use of quill or stub pens. Fastening a sponge to 
the pen-holder at the point at which it is held is some- 
times beneficial. Some persons find relief to a consider- 
able degree by grasping the pen between the first and 
second fingers, instead of between the thumb and fore- 
finger. 

The most recent, and apparently the most successful, 
method of treating writer's cramp is by means of mas- 
sage. This is applied in various ways, according to the 
indications of each particular case. 

Varicose Veins. — This is a condition in which the 
veins are greatly dilated, and become tortuous in their 
course. It is occasioned by occupations which require 
long standing upon the feet, by constipation, and espe- 
cially, in women, by pregnancy. 

Treatment. — The disease is seldom cured ; but its 
inconvenience may be greatly lessened by the use of the 
elastic silk stocking or the elastic bandage. The latter 
measure we very much prefer for the majority of cases. 
The bandage should be applied from the toes to above 
the affected part. It should be wound smoothly and 
with even pressure. Little pressure is required, as the 
natural swelling of the limb in standing will produce all 
the tension necessary, although a very slight pressure 
may be employed in the application of the bandage with 
the limb in a horizontal position. The patient should 
take care to keep the affected limb horizontal or slightly 
elevated as much as possible, so as to encourage the flow 
of the blood toward the heart. Sometimes the dilatation 
of the vein becomes so great that rupture occurs. In 



COMMON AILMENTS. 



581 



case of such an accident, the patient should at once ele- 
vate his limb as high as possible, and place a small roll 
of cloth, as a folded pocket handkerchief, over the point 
of the rupture, applying strong pressure over the com- 
press. Recent improvements in surgery render it possi- 
ble to effect a radical cure of this disease by antiseptic 
ligation. 

Nosebleed. — Here are a few of the best remedies 
for this very common and sometimes dangerous affec- 
tion : — 

1. Have the patient raise both arms above the 
head. This will cause contraction of the blood-vessels 
in the arms, and simultaneously in the mucous lining 
of the nasal cavity. In mild cases, this remedy will 
uniformly succeed with promptness. A dry handker- 
chief should be held to the nose in the meantime. 

2. Administer a nasal douche of a hot solution of 
common salt. Dissolve a tablespoonful of salt in a 
quart of water at a temperature of 130°, and adminis- 
ter with a fountain syringe, inserting the nozzle of 
the syringe in the nostril which does not bleed, and 
allowing it to run out of the other. 

3. Apply hot water to the feet, ankles, hands, and 
wrists, and at the same time have another person ap- 
plying napkins wet in cold water to the throat and neck. 

Ear Discharge. — Cleanse the ear by means of a 
douche administered with a fountain syringe, allowing 
the fountain to hang only a few inches above the head. 
After the ear is thoroughly cleansed, carefully dry the 
canal by means of small bits of absorbent cotton wound 
about the;end of a wooden tooth-pick. Then blow into the 
ear from a quill tooth-pick or a rubber tube a small quan- 



582 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE 

tity of finely powdered boracic acid. It is well to fill the 
canal quite full with the powder. Repeat this every 
other day. A few weeks' treatment will usually effect 
a cure, even in the most obstinate cases. 

Burning Feet. — Bathe the feet night and morning 
with tepid water, to which a little soap has been added. 
When nearly dry, dust freely over them a powder com- 
posed of one part of salicylic acid and sixteen parts of 
powdered alum. If the burning is especially trouble- 
some at night, dip in hot water for fifteen minutes before 
applying the powder. A jug filled with cold water is a 
good palliative. 

Erysipelas. — A local attack of erysipelas may often 
be cut short by painting the parts with collodion. The 
application of wet compresses, with occasional fomenta- 
tions to relieve pain, is also advantageous in these 
cases. 

Ringworm. — This disease is caused by a vegetable 
parasite, and is very contagious. It is undoubtedly 
communicated from one person to another by the use of 
a common comb or brush. It frequently prevails exten- 
sively among the inmates of reformatory institutions, 
and sometimes among school children, when proper pre- 
cautions are not observed. One of the best remedies is a 
solution of hyposulphite of soda. It should be applied to 
the affected parts with a soft sponge, after they have been 
thoroughly cleansed. The application should be made 
daily until a cure is effected. In bad cases, the hair 
should be cut close to the scalp before applying the 
medicated lotion. Spirits of turpentine containing tinct- 
ure of iodine in proportion of twenty drops to the 
ounce, is reputed to be an excellent remedy. 



COMMON AILMENTS. 533 



Hiccough. — Moisten a little sugar with strong 
vinegar, and take a few teaspoonfuls. In very bad 
cases, a few drops of chloroform may be given on 
sugar. 

Sunstroke and Heat Exhaustion. — When a person 
is suffering with sunstroke, the face is red, the temples 
are throbbing, and the skin is hot. The proper treat- 
ment is to immediately put the patient in a cold bath if 
possible, or douse him with cold water. Pouring cold 
water on the head and over the body is a means which 
should be employed, if a well is near. No time should 
be lost in applying this important measure of treatment. 

Heat exhaustion is a condition very different from 
sunstroke. The surface is likely to be cool instead of 
hot, and the patient requires hot applications instead of 
cold. He should be put into a hot bath, or have hot 
fomentations applied to the head and spine, while the 
body is sponged with hot water. 

Bruises. — A bruise should be immediately followed 
by hot fomentations, which should be continuously used 
for three or four hours. In this way the discoloration 
of the skin can be almost entirely prevented, and often 
wholly. 

Ingrowing Toe-Nails. — This difficulty generally af- 
fects the outer side of the great toe. It is generally 
produced by wearing narrow-toed shoes or boots, and 
trimming the nails too closely at the corners. In conse- 
quence of the pressure of the shoe, the edge of the nail 
is forced down into the flesh, producing much pain and 
irritation, especially in walking. Cutting away the edge 
of the nail does no good, as it will soon grow out, and the 
difficulty will be aggravated. When the irritation is ex- 



584 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 

treme, and kept up for a long time, inflammation and even 
ulceration may occur. 

Treatment. — When there is much soreness or inflam- 
mation, soak the feet in water as hot as can be borne, 
two or three times a day, and apply cool compresses the 
rest of the time, giving the feet entire rest. When the 
inflammation is considerable, subdue it in this way : The 
center of the nail should be scraped very thin, a notch 
should be cut in the center at the end, and the edge 
should be raised by carefully drawing under it threads 
of floss silk. 

For radical cure, an operation consisting of removal 
of the thickened flesh about the edge of the nail is re- 
quired. The application to the sore point of pure car- 
bolic acid is also useful. 

Hang-Nail. — This is a little portion of partially de- 
tached tissue adjacent to the nail, which is usually the 
result of a slight injury of some kind, and by constant 
contact with various objects becomes inflamed and quite 
annoying. 

Treatment. — Clean the nail carefully, dry with a bit 
of absorbent cotton or soft cloth, and apply an adhesive 
plaster. It should be renewed every day or two until 
the cure is completed. If a considerable degree of in- 
flammation has been excited, and there is a raw surface 
of considerable size, a little powdered alum or tannin 
should be applied before the application of the plaster. 

Burns and Scalds. — Protect the injured part 
from the air by covering with oil or vaseline, or 
equal parts of oil and lime-water. The most effective 
means of relieving the suffering from burns, is by im- 
mersion in water at a temperature about that of the 



COMMON AILMENTS. 535 

body. At the Royal hospital in Vienna, where the 
author spent some time a few years ago, patients are 
kept in baths frequently with the whole body immersed 
for several months. The new skin forms very readily 
under this treatment, and great comfort is afforded the 
patient. The water must be kept only slightly below 
that of the body, and must be changed two or three 
times a day. 

Sprains, — Give the parts rest at once, and apply hot 
fomentations. If the part becomes swollen and hot, 
apply hot fomentations every two hours, and continuous 
cold applications between. The greatest danger from 
sprains is from using the parts too soon. A severe 
sprain requires as long a time for recovery as a fracture, 
and is often a more serious injury. 

Muscular Strains. — If the muscles have been 
strained by too heavy lifting or too violent exercise, 
take a hot bath, or sponge the parts with hot water, and 
give the overworked parts entire rest until all soreness 
is gone. 

Migraine, or Nervous Headache. — This disorder is 
usually considered exceedingly difficult to cure, but un- 
der hygienic treatment it proves very manageable. Usu- 
ally the patient is suffering with slow digestion; the 
bowels are likely to be stopped, tongue coated, and pa- 
tient's appetite capricious. When an attack is threat- 
ened, the patient should take from three to six glasses 
of hot water every one or two hours, and apply hot 
sponging to the spine and head, resting quietly in bed 
until the threatening symptoms disappear. 



CHOICE PRESCRIPTIONS. 



For Sexual Nervous Debility.— 

#. Sodae Brom., dr. 4. 

Ammon. Brom., dr. 4. 

Aquae, oz. 3. M. 

Dose : Take in water one teaspoonful at night, on going to bed. 

#. Atropia Sulph., gr. 3^". 

Aquae, oz. 4. M. 

Dose : Teaspoonful at night. 

These two remedies are very useful in cases which the nocturnal losses oc- 
cur with great frequency, and are not readily controlled by the simple means 
recommended elsewhere in this work. They are the only drugs which we con- 
sider of any value whatever in the treatment of these maladies. They must not 
be depended upon for effecting a cure, however. They only palliate symptoms, 
and give temporary relief from one of the most annoying symptoms. 

For Balanitis. — 

i., dr. K- 

M. 



M. 



M. 



M. 



M. 



M. 



M. 



#. Zinc Sulph., 
Aquae Rosacae, 


dr. yi. 

pt. 1. 


Apply to the parts after cleansing and drying 


with lint. 


#. Alum, 

Aquae, 


dr. X. 

pt. 1. 


Apply same as preceding. 




9?. Acid Tannic, 
Aquae, 


dr. K. 

pt. 1. 


Apply same as preceding. 




9 ; . Distilled extract of Witch-hazel, 
Aquae, 


oz. 2. 
oz. 4. 


Apply to the parts affected, after cleansing. 




Herpes of the Prepuce.— 




T)c. Sulphate of Zinc, 
Aquae, 


dr. 1. 

pt. 1. 


Apply to parts twice daily, after cleansing. 




5fc. Alum, 
Aquae, 


dr. 1. 
pt. 1. 


Use same as preceding. 


\ 


Jfc. Zinc Oxide, 
Starch, 


gr. 4. 
oz. 4. 


Apply to parts twice daily after cleansing. 
[586] 





CHOICE PRESCRIPTIONS. 587 



#. Tannin, 
Starch, 




gr. 4. 
oz. 4. 


M. 


Use same as preceding. 








For Catarrh.— 




._ 




J*. Common Salt, 
Aquae (bot), 




dr. 1. 

pt. 1. 


M. 


Use by means of sponge, nasal, or post-nasal doucbe, to cleanse nasal 
cavities. 


9?. Common Salt, 
Sodae Carb., 
Aquas (bot), 




dr. K- 
dr. K. 
pt. 1. 


M. 


Use same as preceding. 








$fc. Common Salt, 
Borax, 

Acid Carbouc, 
Aquae (bot), 




dr. X- 
dr. }4. 

drops 20. 
pt. 1. 




Use same as preceding in cases of offensive catarrb. 






9- Ferric Alum, 
Aquae, 




dr. 1. 

pt. 1. 


M. 


Use with atomizer following i 
fuse discharge. 


x cleansing lotion, in cases of catarrh with pro- 


P. Sulphate of iron, 
Aquae, 




dr. 1. 
pt. 1. 


M. 


Use same as preceding. 








?*. Zinc Sulphate, 
Aquae, 




dr. 1. 
pt. 1. 


M. 


Use same as preceding. 








#. Distilled Extract of Witch-hazel, 
Aquae, 


oz. 3. 
oz. 6. 


M. 


Use same as preceding in cases in which the discharge 


is slight. 




9?. Iodoform, 
Starch, 




dr. 2. 
oz. 1. 


M. 



Use as a snuff, after cleansing, in cases of catarrh with little discharge but 
offensive breath. 

9. Camphor, gr. 2. 

Iodoform, dr. 1. 

Starch, oz. 1. M. 

Use as snuff, after cleansing, in cases of painful catarrh. 

9. Boracic Acid, * dr. 1. 

Starch, oz. 1. M. 

Use as snuff, after cleansing, in cases of catarrh attended by irritation of 
the nostrils. 



588 MAN, THE MASTERPIECE. 



Chronic Sore Throat. — 

#. Alum, dr. 1. 

Glycerine, oz. 1. M. 

Apply to throat with a swab. 

p. Tannin, dr. 1. 

Glycerine, oz. 1. M. 

Use same as preceding. 

#. Chlorate of Potash, dr. 1. 

Aquae, oz. 4. M. 

Use with steam atomizer. 

#. Nitrate of Silver, gr. 2. 

Aquae, oz. 1. M. 

Apply to throat with swab in cases of chronic pharyngitis attended by dry- 
ness, and in cases of acute pharyngitis. 

For Dandruff. — 

&. Alcohol, oz. 3. 

Castor-oil, oz. 3. M. 

Apply to scalp every other day, after shampooing. 

For Sore Eyes- 

$fc. Zinc Sulph., gr. 2. 

Aquae, oz. 4. M. 

Apply a few drops to the eye twice a day, in case of chronic conjunctivitis. 

|*. Acid Tannic, dr. 1. 

Glycerine, oz. 1. M. 

Apply to the inner surface of the lids with a brush, immediately washing off 
with a brush dipped in water, in severe cases of chronic mucous or catarrhal 
conjunctivitis 

Piles — 

#. Fl. Ex. Hamamelis, dr. 4. 

Vaseline, oz. 1^. M. 

Apply to the affected parts, after cleansing with cold water, each time the 
bowels are moved. 

J?. Distilled Ex. of Witch-hazel, oz. 4. 

Aquae, oz. 4. M. 

Introduce one ounce of the solution into the rectum at night, and retain. 

Ringworm.— 

fy. Hyposulphite of Soda, dr. 2. 

Aquae, oz. 4. M. 

Apply to scalp after thorough cleansing, twice a day. 

#. Tinct. Iodine, dr. 1. 

Spirits of Turpentine, oz. 3. M. 

Use same as preceding. 



INDEX, 



Page. 
A 

Abdomen, To Develop Muscles of 129 

Abnormalities of tbe Testicles 514 

Abortion 423 

Acne 575 

Acute Sore Throat 577 

A Drunkard's Heart 279 

Ailments, Common 540 

Aims 199 

Air, Expired 252 

Air, Dirty 260 

Air, How to Test 262 

Air, Tbe 249 

Air, Constituents of 249 

Alcohol Destroys tbe Blood 277 

Alcoholic Degeneration 278 

Alcoholic Apoplexy 282 

Alcoholized Serves 282 

Alcohol an Irritant 275 

Alcohol a Xarcotic 275 

Alcohol an Anaesthetic 275 

Alcohol not a Food 276 

Alcoholism 285 

Alcoholic Dyspepsia 281 

Alcoholic Lnsanity 285 

Alcoholic Consumption 286 

Alcohol vs. Strength 286 

Alcoholized Muscles 287 

Alcohol vs. Animal Heat 287 

Alcohol vs. Longevity 288 

Alcohol, Entailments of 288 

Alcohol an Irritant 272 

Alcohol, How it Stimulates 272 

Alcohol a Poison to Plants 273 

Alcohol a Poison to Animals 272 

Alcohol a Poison to Human Beings 274 

Alcohol 266 

Alcohol, Methylic 266 

Alcohol, Ethylic 266 

Alcohol, Butylic 266 

Alcohol, Amylic 266 



Page. 

Alcohol, Properties of 268 

Alcohol Omelette 270 

Alexis St. Martin 285 

Alimentary Canal 37 

Animals, Human Affinities in 61 

Ante-Natal Influences 64 

Apoplexy, Alcobolic 282 

Appetite, Depraved 191 

Appetite, Liquor 195 

Appetite, Carnivorous 224 

Arm, Well-Developed 115 

Arm, Poorly-Developed 115 

Arms, To Strengthen 124 

Arteries 29 

Associations 399 



Back, To Strengthen 

Bacteria 

Back Yard, Sanitary Survey of 

Balanitis 501. 

Baldness' 

Barbarism, Kelic of 

Bathing 350, 402, 435, 451, 523. 

Bathing, Kules for 

Bath, Sponge 

Bath, Full 

Bath, Yapor 

Bath, Hot- Air 

Bath, Oil 

Beds 

Bed-Clothing 

Bed, Hygiene of the 

Beer and Bright' s Disease 

Behavior upon the Street 

Benjamin Franklin 

Bile 

Bile, Uses of 3 

Biliousness 

Biliousness, Causes of . . 

Biliousness, Remedy for 

Bitters, Poison in 



130 
326 
319 
586 
574 
290 
526 
350 
351 
353 
355 
357 
358 
347 
347 
349 
286 
153 
224 
37 
),40 
233 



268 



590 



INDEX. 



"Bitters, Vinegar" , 269 

"Bitters, Temperance " 269 

Bladder y 44 

Blood, Libidinous 191 

Blood, Quantityof 29 

Blood Corpuscles 30 

Blood, Circulation of 31 

Blood, Purification of 32 

Blood, Bad 33 

Blood, Effects of Tobacco on 301 

Body Development 537 

Body, Measurement of 537 

Boils 569 

Bones 24 

Bones of Infancy 25 

Bones of Old Age 25 

Bowels, Care of 402, 451 

Bowels, Constipation of 568 

Boyhood 73 

Boys' Rights 74 

Boys, Peasant 82 

Boys, Italian 82 

Boys, Special Dangers to 84 

Boys, Tobacco-Using 87 

Boys, Special Rules for 162 

Brain of the Drunkard 281 

Brains 45 

Brain Cells 45 

Brain, Great 48 

Brain and Mind 48 

Brain of Man 49 

Brain of Woman 49 

Bread, Digestion of 38 

Bright'e Disease 286 

Bruises 585 

Bryant 91 

Burning Feet 582 

Burns 584 

Byron 106 

G 

Calls 155 

Calcutta, Black Hole of 253 

Capt. Kennedy 287 

Capillaries 29 

Carbonic Acid 249 

Castration 519 

Catarrh 587 

Catarrh, Nasal 544 

Catarrh, Dry 551 



Catarrh of Prostate 492 

Cellars 312 

Cess-Pools 334 

Chabin 71 

Chancroid, Appendix 12 

Chest, Well-Developed 115 

Chest, Poorly-Developed 115 

Chest, To Expand 131 

Chilblains 572 

Childbirth 61 

Cholera , 310 

Cigars, Inventors of 292 

Circumcision 498, 519 

Circulation 31 

Clap Appendix 3 

Clothing 336 

Clothing, Bed 347 

Clothing, Change of ' . . 347 

Clothing, Night 347 

Clothing, Uses of 336 

Coffee 532 

Color 339 

Color Blindness 305 

Colors, Poisonous 349 

Colon 37 

Cold in the Head 554 

Comstock, Anthony, Work of 374 

Common Sense 205 

Compresses 363 

Combustion 249 

Common Ailments 540 

Consumption, Alcoholic , 286 

Condiments 445 

Condiments, Effect on Liver 41 

Conversation 156 

Consumption 186 

Constitutions, How Ruined 183 

Conduct, General Rules of 160 

Control of Sex 62-64 

Conception 60 

Conception, Place of Occurrence 60 

Copulation, Organ of 56 

Corpuscles, Red 30 

Corpuscles, White 30 

Corns 570 

Cotton 337 

Courtesy, Natural 80 

Courting Customs, Evil 408 

Cowper's Glands 56 

Culture, Physiological 89 



INDEX. 



591 



Curiosities of Eeproduction 68 

Cystitis 389 

D 

Dandruff 572,588 

Day-Dreaming 401 

Deafness 531 

Decomposing Matter 327 

Deformities 25, 71 

Degeneration, Alcoholic 278 

Delirium Tremens, Stomach in 284 

Demodex . 525 

Development 60 

Diaphragm 27 

Dickens as a Pedestrian 105 

Diet, Relation to Climate 220 

Diet, Relation to Occupation 220 

Diet 399, 434, 445 

Digestive Apparatus 36 

Diluted Oxygen 250 

Diphtheria 310 

Disinfection 327 

Disinfection, Modes of 328 

Disinfectants, The Best 328 

Disease of the Sexual Organs 431 

Diurnal Emissions 457 

Dr. Richardson on Tobacco-Using 299 

Dr. Beaumont , 285 

Dreams, Control of 443 

Drooping Shoulders 115 

Dropsy, Drunkard's .' 286 

Drugs 533 

Drunken Goats 273 

Drum Membrane 51 

Drum Cavity 51 

Drunkard's Brain 281 

Drunkard's Liver 285 

Drunkard's Dropsy 286 

Drunkard's Stomach 283 

Dry-Earth System 331 

Dumb-Bells 114 

Dumb-Bell Exercises 118-122 

Dust 316 

Dysentery 310 

Dyspepsia 229 

Dyspeptics, Rules for 534 

E 

Ears 50 

Ears, Care of 530 



Ear Discharge 581 

Ear Drum 51 

Ear of Barnacle 50 

Ear of Fish 51 

Ear, Structure of 51 

Ear Stones r 51 

Eating 219 

Eating too Much 220 

Eating, Hasty 221 

Eating when Tired 222 

Eccentricities 79 

Economy 209 

Education 77 

Education, Proper Aims of 78 

Effects of Exercise 91 

Effects of Exercise on the Heart 96 

Effects of Exercise on the Lungs 97 

Effects of Exercise on the Brain 101 

Effects of Exercise on the Passions . . . 102 

Effects of Self-Abuse 381 

Eggs of Fishes 68 

Eggs of Sharks 69 

Eggs of Cuttle Fish 68 

Eggs of Argonaut 69 

Eggs of Shell Fish 69 

Eggs of Polyps 68 

Eggs of Worms 69 

Eggs of Star Fish 70 

EjaculatoryDuct 56 

Electricity 455 

Emissions, Nocturnal 437 

Emissions, Diurnal 457 

Enema 362 

Enlarged Tonsils 542 

Entailments of Alcohol 288 

Epididymitis 504 

Epilepsy 384 

Erysipelas 582 

Ethics, Social 151 

Ethics, Chapter on 135 

Ethics of Health Caring 145 

Exercise 400 

Exercise, Effects of 91 

Exercise, Benefits of 93 

Exercise, Rules for 103 

Exercise, Time to Take 103 

Exercise, Amount Needed 104 

Exercise Encourages Growth 108 

Exercise, Forms of 116 

Exercise with Dumb-Bells 118-122 



592 



INDEX. 



Exercise -with Indian Clubs 122 

Exercises, Special 124 

Exercises for a Day 134 

Exercise, Effect on the Heart 33 

Experiments 252, 337, 338, 345 

Experience 206 

Expression 27 

Eye, Education of 529 

Eyes, Care of 527 

Eyes, Use of 527 

Eye Lotions 528 

Eye, Dirt in 528 

Eye Diseases, Catching 529 

Eyes 49 

Eyes of Leech 49, 50 

Eye, Structure of 50 

F 

Face Pimples 577 

Faithfulness 204 

FeatherBeds 348 

Fecundation 57, 59 

Feet, Clothing for 345 

Feet of Chinese Women 25 

Female Element 57 

Fertilization 57 

Fire-Water 269 

Fingers, to Strengthen 128 

Foetus 61 

Fomentations 364, 365 

Fomentations, Uses of 365 

Food, Relation to Health 81 

Food, Relation to Morals 81 

Foreskin 56 

Foreskin, Herpes of 502 

Fore-Arm 124 

Foul Perspiration 572 

Freckles 570 

Free-Marten 72 

Full Bath 353 

Fusel Oil 267 

G 

Gait, Graceful 95 

Gall Bladder 39 

Garbage 334 

Gastric Juice 37 

Gentility 213 

Genuineness 85 



Germs 309 

Germs, Uses of 323 

Germs, Sources of 311 

Glans 56 

Glasses, 527 

Gladstone 91 

Goats, Drunken 273 

Gonorrhoea Appendix 3 

Gymnasium, A Home 112 

H 

Habits 79 

Habits, Vicious 86 

Habits, Influence of 144 

Hang-Nails 584 

Hard Drinker's Stomach 284 

Hay Fever 563 

Health, Hints about 521 

Heart-burn 578 

Heat Exhaustion 583 

Headache 585 

Health Caring, Ethics of 145 

Heart, Danger of Weak 99 

Heart, How to Test 99 

Heart Disease 385 

Heart, Cavities of 29 

Heart, Care of 32 

Heart, Effect of Exercise on 33 

Heart 28 

Heart, Sounds of 28 

Heart, Size of 28 

Head, Clothing for 346 

Hermaphrodites 72 

Hermaphrodites, Natural 72 

Heritage, Evil 182 

Heredity 146, 147 

Hiccough 583 

High-Headedness 85 

Hives 568 

Hob-Nailed Liver 285 

Hollow Chest 115 

Home, How to Ventilate , 26J 

Home 83 

Hot- Air Bath 357 

Howe, Dr.S. G 289 

Human Mechanism 22 

Hybrids 71 

Hydrocele 506 

Hygiene of Puberty 67 



INDEX. 



593 



I 

Idiocy from Alcohol 289 

Impotence 514 

Impregnation 57 

Inaction, Effect of 91 

Indian Club Exercises 122 

Inflammation of Testicle 503 

Inflammation of Prostate 486, 488 

Inflammation of Bladder 4S9 

Ingrowing Toe Nails 583 

Ingersollism 140 

Insanity from Self- Abuse 388 

Insanity, Symptoms of 388 

Insanity 190 

Introductions 151, 153 

Intestines 37 

Intestinal Juice 37 

Intoxication 267 

Irritable Prostate 492 

Ivy Poisoning 578 

J 

Jelly-Fish 23 

K 

Kangaroo, Parturition in 62 

Kane, Dr 287 

Kennedy, Capt 287 

Kidneys 44 

Kidneys, Work df 44 

King,Dr 287 

Kitchens 312 

L 

Large Intestine 37 

Law, Universal 135 

Law, Moral 136 

Leather 338 

Legacies, Bad 185 

Legs, To Develop 133 

Leporides 71 

Letters of Introduction 152, 153 

Life, Mystery of 54 

Life, Beginningsof 23 

Linen 337 

Liquor Appetites 195 

Liver of Drunkard 286 

Liver 37, 39 

Liver, "Work of 40, 41 

Liver, Effect of Condiments on 41 



Loins, To Strengthen 130 

Love not Sensuality 419 

Lowell on Skepticism 142 

Luck 207 

Lungs 34,36 

Lungs, Extent of. . . . 7 34 

Lungs of Frog 34 

M 

Maclaren 106 

" Magnetic Healers " 93 

Male Organs 55 

Male Elements 57 

Marriage 164, 484 

Marriage, Kelation to Health 164 

Marriage, Object of 165 

Marry, Epileptics Should not 172 

Marry, Insane Temperaments Should 

not 173 

Marry, Consumptives Should not 174 

Marry, May Drunkards? 175 

Marry, May Syphilitics? 175 

Marry,Whomto 176 

Marry, Who May not . . 166 

Marry, When to 168 

Marital Rights . . 425 

Marital Excesses 413, 421 

Masturbation 367 

Masturbation in Ancient Times 368 

Masturbation, Cause of 369 

Mental Uncleanness 87 

Menses 58 

Menstruation 59 

Mental Effects of Self -Abuse 387 

Mental Purity 397 

Mental Occupation 397 

Mental Adulterers 429 

Merit 210 

Midriff 27 

Migraine 585 

Mind and Body 148 

Moist Tetter 566 

Mold 314 

Mongrels 70 

Monsters 71 

Mouth-Breathing 577 

Moral Law 136 

Morality 138 

Moral Tone 148 

Moral Effects of Self-Abuse. 387 



594 



INDEX. 



Mule 71 

Muscles 26 

Muscles, Number of 26 

Muscles, Uses of 26 

Muscular Strains 585 

N 

Naphtha 266 

Nasal Catarrh 544 

Nervousness from Tobacco 305 

Nerve Tone 148 

Nervous Disorders 189 

Nervous Headache 585 

Nerves of Hearing 51 

Nerves of Smell'. 52 

Nettle Rash 568 

Newton * 224 

Nicotine 294 

Neck, Clothing for, 346 

Night Clothing 347 

Nitrogen 249 

Nocturnal Emissions 437 

Nocturnal Pollutions 437 

Nosebleed 581 

Noses 52 

o 

Obscene Literature 373 

OilBath 358 

Oily Skin 571 

Orchitis 503 

P 

Pain a Blessing 136 

Pancreatic Juice 37 

Pancreas 37 

Paraphimosis 499 

Parturition 61 

Parturition in Kangaroo 62 

Parents, Confiding in 83 

Parkes, Dr 287 

Parlors, Infected 317 

Penis 56 

Perseverance 201 

Phimosis 371, 403, 497 

Physical Culture 89 

Physical Culture, Decline of 90 

Physical Development 91 

Physiology of Reproduction 56 

Pigeon's Breast 116 



Piles 575,588 

Pipes, Inventors of 292 

Plasma 31 

Plural Pregnancy 62 

Pollen 57 

Portal Circulation 32 

Positions, Body 25 

Prescription 586 

Prepuce 56 

Priapism 513 

Prostate, Irritable 492 

Prostatic Catarrh 492 

Prostate, Diseases of 486 

Prostatitis 486, 488 

Prostate, Enlargement of 489 

Prostate, Inflammation of 486, 488 

Profuse Perspiration 572 

Prostate Gland 56 

Profanity 86 

Promptness 208 

Puberty 66 

Puberty, Changes at 66 

Puberty, Hygiene of 67 

Pulse of a Toper 280 

Pulse 31 

Pulley Weights 112 

Purity, Decline of 406 

R 

Red Nose 576 

Religion 403 

Reliability 85 

Religion, Bogus 138 

Religion, Genuine 139 

Religion of Socrates 139 

Religion of Buddha 139 

Religion of Mohammed 139 

Remedies, Medicinal 455 

Reproduction 54 

Reproduction, Physiology of 56 

Reproduction, Anatomy of 55 

Reproduction in Animals 58 

Reproduction, Curiosities of 68 

Reproduction in Locusts 69 

Reproduction without Sexual Union . . 70 

Reproduction in Lizards 70 

Reproduction in Lobsters 70 

Reproduction in Earth Worms 70 

Richardson on Tobacco-Using 299 

Rights, Individual 145 



INDEX. 



595 



Ringworm 583,588 

Rosseau 390 

Rubber 338 

Rum-Choking 277 

Rum Family 365 



Salt Rheum 

Saliva 

Scalds 

Scrofula 

Scrotum . 

Self -Abuse 

Self -Abuse, Cure of 

Self -Abuse in Children 

Self -Abuse, Causes of 

Self -Abuse, Effects of 

Self -Abuse, Physical Effects of. . 

Self -Respect , 

Seminal Losses 

Sewers, Ancient 

Sexual Xervous Debility. 

Sex in Flowers 

Sexual Organs 

Sex, Control of 

Sexual Debility 

Sexual Neurasthenia 

Sexes, Too Great Familiarity of. 

Sexuality, Precocious 

Sexual Excesses, Marital 

Sexual Functions, The 

Sexual Appetite, Abnormal 

Sexual Sins 

Shoulders, To Strengthen 

Shoulders, Uneven 

Silk 

Sinks 

Skin, Care of 

Skin, Extent of 

Skin, Structure of 

Skin, Uses of 

Skirts 

Sleeplessness 

Sleep 

Sleeping-Rooms, Unhealthful . . . 

Small Intestines 

Smoker' s Sore Throat 

Sneezing 

Snuff-Taking, Origin of 



.-12 



.401, 



566 

37 

584 

187 

55 

367 

395 

404 

369 

381 

383 

211 

437 

337 

586 

57 

55 

63 



4or 

409 
413 
415 

417 
867 

m 

115 
837 
313 | 
521 

43 

42 
,43 
340 
574 
434 
313 

37 
302 
573 
291 



Social Ethics 151 

Social Vice 405 

Sore Eyelids 567 

Sore Eyes 590 

Sore Throat , 588 

Sour Stomach 223 

Sound 51 

Sounds, Use of 454 

Spawning of Fishes 58 

Spermatorrhoea 436, 473 

Sperm 55 

Spermatic Cord 55 

Spermatozoon 58 

Spine, Applications to 453 

Sponge ,. 33 

Sponge Bath 351 

Spring Sickness 338 

Sprains 585 

Squint 539 

Sterility 518 

Stomach 36 

Stomachs, Weak 188 

Stomach of a Hard Drinker 384 

Stomach in Delirium Tremens ... — 384 

Stomach of a Drunkard 383 

Stomach of a Moderate Drinker 383 

Stomachs 315 

Stomachs, Prescriptions for 336 

Stomachs, Sour 326 

Strength, Howto Get 89 

Strength Diminished by Alcohol 386 

Stricture 493 

Success 197 

Sunstroke 583 

Sweating Pack 355 

Swine Topers 374 

Syphilis Appendix 14 

T 

Table Etiquette 158, 159 

Taste 52, 53 

Tea and Coffee 532 

Teeth 36 

Testes 55, 59 

Temperaments 180 

Testicle, Irritable 508 

Testicle, Neuralgiac 508 

Testicle, Inflammation of 503 

Testicle, Atrophy of 

Testicle, Shrinkage of 510 



596 



INDEX. 



Testicles, Abnormalities of 514 

Testicles 55 

"The Rut" 59 

Thiers 91 

Thoroughness 203 

Triplets 62 

Tobacco, Poison in 294 

Tobacco Poisoning 295 

Tobacco-Using, Poisonous Effects 297 

Tobacco-Poisoning, Chronic 299 

Tobacco-Using Predisposes to Disease 301 

Tobacco Consumption 303 

Tobacco, Cause of Heart Disease 303 

Tobacco and Dyspepsia 304 

Tobacco, Cause of Cancer 304 

Tobacco Paralysis 305 

Tobacco Nervousness 305 

Tobacco-Using, Hereditary Effects of.. 306 

Tobacco-Using 290 

Tobacco Discovered 290 

Tobacco-Chewing, Origin of 292 

Tobacco Habit 581 

Toddy Blossom 281 

Tongue 37 

Tonsils, Enlarged 542 

Toper's Pulse 280 

Twins, 62 

u 

Uncleanness, Mental 87 

Under-clothing 341 

Urea 44 

Ureter 44 

Urethra 56 

Urethra, Prostatic 56 

Urethra, Membranous 56 

Urethral Discharges 460 

Urine 44 

Urine, Sediments in 45 

V 

VaporBath 355 

Varicose Veins 580 



Varicocele 510 

Vas Deferens 55 

Vaults 334 

Veins 29 

Veins, Varicocele 580 

Vegetarianism 224 

Ventilation 261 

Ventilation, Principles of 261, 262 

Vesicula Seminalis 55 

Vice, Social 405 

Vice, Society for Suppression of 374 

Vice, Signs of 377 

Vicious Habits 86 

Vices 87 

Victor Hugo 91 

VitalTone 148 

Vital Capacity 535 

W 

Warts, Venereal 502 

Warts 567 

Waist, Pressure upon 544 

Waist, To Develop 128 

Walking 116, 117 

Warmth, Dressing for 340 

Weak Stomachs and Livers 188 

Well, Death in 321 

Wendell Phillips 224 

Wet Girdle. 361 

What about Temperaments ? 180 

What is Biliousness? 235 

Whisky Breath 271 

Whisky Flush 280 

Wild Hairs 529 

Winship, Dr 94 

Winter Constitution 341 

Wind, Good 98 

Wool 337 

Writer's Cramp 579 

Y 

Yellow Fever 310 



m 




v-..w.-.-^-^.-..-.-..-.-^-^l 




VENEREAL DISEASES. W 

., ^ ., .,.„.,.,.,_^._ ..^ ^@» 

JK^HERE are three distinct disorders which owe 
KlK their origin to so 



social vice, known respectively as 
gonorrhoea or clap, chancroid or soft chancre, 
and syphilis. These disorders, arising in the 
same way, by illicit coitus, were until the pres- 
ent century supposed to be identical in charac- 
ter. It is now known, however, that the three 
maladies are entirely distinct, although it is pos- 
sible, indeed, that a person may be suffering from the 
three forms of disease at one and the same time. While 
these diseases differ greatly in the character and degree 
of their effects upon the body, they may all be classed 
among the most horrible of the numerous disorders to 
which the human body is subject. Our purpose in men- 
tioning them here is certainly not to encourage the 
transgressor by the fact that there are means by which 
he may mitigate the punishment which nature inflicts 
upon those who transgress the laws of both God and 
man, but rather to present so truthful a picture of the 
terrible consequences of these maladies that he who is 
not deterred by the promptings of an active and well- 
trained conscience from going astray from the path of 
virtue, may, perhaps, be influenced by considerations 
which appeal to the instinct of self-preservation. 

How these diseases originated, is a matter which has 
been the subject of much discussion. Those who have 
witnessed the terrible ravages of venereal diseases upon 
the human form, illustrations of which may be constantly 
found in almost any large hospital, have sometimes given 

[1] 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 



expression to the thought that the punishment inflicted 
was so indescribably horrible that it might be consid- 
ered as almost too severe a penalty, notwithstanding 
the gravity of the offense committed. Wonder has 
been expressed how a kind and merciful Creator could 
ever have created such maladies for the purpose of in- 
flicting human torture. It is well to bear in mind in 
this connection, that the penalty prescribed by the al- 
mighty Lawgiver in the penal code given through Moses 
to the children of Israel, exacted death as the penalty 
for transgression against chastity, so that the natural 
law enforced by the hand of disease is wholly consistent 
with the criminal code executed by man in the ancient 
Hebrew dispensation. Indeed, the justice of the death 
penalty for the violation of the laws of chastity is recog- 
nized by the laws of many nations, especially half civil- 
ized or semi-barbarous tribes whose laws are chiefly the 
result of a survival of some of the ancient traditions or of 
the natural process of social evolution which has taught 
it as a necessity for the preservation of chastity, as a 
measure of safety to the common good. 

But we may say of these considerations that modern 
medical science, which has subjected to the most care- 
ful scrutiny the question of origin as relating to all ve- 
nereal diseases, leans strongly to the theory that these 
disorders are the result of man's own misdoings, and 
were never especially created as inflictions upon the hu- 
man race. The probability of this theory as relating to 
other disorders, we need not here discuss ; but it seems 
to be pretty clearly made out that venereal diseases, at 
least, are the result of venereal excesses. By this we do 
not mean that the worst forms of venereal disease are 
likely to rise in individuals otherwise healthy simply 
from sexual excess alone, without exposure to individ- 
uals also suffering with venereal disease, though this is 
known to be true respecting some forms of venereal dis- 
orders ; but we wish to intimate that venereal diseases 
have sprung up as the result of profligacy and vice, 
coupled with various conditions and circumstances, the 
nature of which may not be thoroughly understood, but 
which may be considered to have been sufficient to con- 
vert a disorder, at first but slightly contagious, into 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 



a virulent malady most destructive in its effects upon 
the human form. Syphilis — in its usual manifestations — 
is not more destructive to human life than scrofula or 
consumption, and it has been intimated that the three 
formidable diseases mentioned are only different phases 
of one primary malady. 

Whatever may have been the origin of venereal dis- 
orders, it is well known that their manifestations have 
varied greatly in intensity since they have been the sub- 
ject of careful medical study. Sometimes they have 
been observed to be so mild in character that they were 
scarcely more formidable than most of the common ills 
to which the human body is subject ; while at other 
times they have broken out with a virulency which could 
be fitly compared to nothing but a tornado or a cyclone 
within the human body. The transition from the mildest 
forms of these disorders to their most virulent manifesta- 
tions, is certainly much greater than from a simple in- 
nocuous disorder to the milder forms of venereal diseases. 

GONORRHOEA, OR CLAP. 

This disorder, formerly believed to be a specific mal- 
ady, is now generally held to be a simple urethritis, or 
inflammation of the urethra. The disease has been 
known from very ancient times. It has been suggested 
that it was quite common in Eastern countries at the 
time of the ancient Hebrews, and this fact has been as- 
signed as the reason for the enforcement of circumcision 
among this people. How much truth there is in this 
suggestion, must, of course, be left to conjecture. It is 
known to have existed among the ancient Greeks and 
Romans, and was probably quite prevalent among those 
nations during the periods when they were so deeply 
sunken in licentiousness that even their religion was 
largely composed of lascivious rites, their temples were 
turned into brothels, and chastity was the rarest of all 
virtues. 

Causes. — The ordinary cause of gonorrhoea is impure 
sexual contact. It is not absolutely essential that the 
woman should herself be suffering with gonorrhoea in 
order to communicate it to a man ; for prostitutes are 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 



frequently the medium of communicating the disease 
from one man to another without themselves being af- 
fected by it. Repeated attacks frequently establish a 
sort of immunity from the disorder, just as an attack of 
small-pox protects from subsequent attacks, though in 
the case of this disease the protection is far less perfect. 

It is now very well known that the gonorrhceal dis- 
ease may be produced by other causes than contact 
with the discharge. One of the most obstinate cases 
of the disease which the author was ever called upon to 
treat, was a case in which the evidence was as complete 
as could be desired, that it was the result of exposure 
to the menstrual discharge. Most medical men of large 
experience have met cases in which gonorrhceal dis- 
charge in men had originated from a leucorrhceal disorder 
in their wives. Certain strongly irritating substances, 
as ammonia, injected into the urethra, produce the same 
sort of discharge, and a case has been recorded in which 
a real attack of gonorrhoea was induced in a sailor by 
sitting for some hours on a wet dock while in a state of 
intoxication. Intemperance and excessive venery are 
known to be frequent causes of the disease, especially 
if there has been previously present a chronic catarrhal 
discharge. Diday, an eminent French physician, be- 
lieves that excessive coitus is the most frequent cause 
of gleet ; while Ricord asserts that the free use of beer, 
and the eating of asparagus must be accredited with be- 
ing exciting causes of the malady. 

Gonorrhoea is usually confined to the urethra, but may 
affect the glans penis and the prepuce, or foreskin. It 
usually begins at the outer extremity of the urethra, and 
gradually extends backward, remaining most obstinately 
fixed at the slightly enlarged portion of the urethral 
canal just within the mouth of the meatus, and that 
portion known as the bulb, located just in front of the 
membranous or prostatic portion of the canal. The dis- 
ease may extend to the bladder, and through the semi- 
nal ducts to the testicles. It is not wholly confined to 
the mucous membrane, affecting also the deeper tissues. 

Symptoms. — The characteristic symptoms of the dis- 
ease begin to make their appearance in two to five days 
after exposure. The first symptoms felt are those of 



VENEBEAL DISEASES. 



slight uneasiness, itching or tickling of the meatus, which 
is redder than usual, the lips slightly swollen and stuck 
together by a colorless, viscid secretion. The secretion 
quite rapidly increases, and becomes opaque or milky in 
appearance. On urinating, a slight smarting is felt. 
This state may last from a few hours to two or three 
days. The inflammation, which at this time is confined 
entirely to the outer end of the urethra, gradually ex- 
tends, and sometimes until the entire organ is affected. 
The mucous membrane covering the glans becomes swol- 
len and inflamed. The foreskin also sometimes swells to 
such an extent that it cannot be drawn back over the 
glans. The discharge increases in quantity, and be- 
comes thick and greenish. The whole course of the 
urethra, as felt along the under side of the penis, is 
swollen and tender. The passage of urine is accompa- 
nied by intense scalding sensations ; and the urine 
can be emitted only in small quantities at a time, owing 
to a contraction of the muscles of the urethra. When 
the back part of the canal is affected, the patient has a 
feeling of weight and pain in the perineum, which is 
greatly increased by erection. When the patient be- 
comes warm in bed, he suffers from violent and invol- 
untary erections. The inflamed condition of the ure- 
thra and the surrounding tissues will not allow the lower 
portion of the organ to expand in that direction, caus- 
ing it to become curved with the concavity downward, 
and acts like the string on a bow, curving the organ so 
as to cause great pain and suffering. This condition is 
known as chordee. Sometimes abscesses form in the 
urethra. This stage lasts from one to three weeks. 
After a time, usually one to six weeks, the inflamma- 
tion subsides ; but the discharge may continue indefi- 
nitely, without symptoms of inflammation, though there 
is sometimes slight smarting on passing urine. This form 
of the disease is known as gleet, and may last for a few 
weeks, several months, or even years. In this condition, 
a slight discharge occurs after rising in the morning, and 
the lips of the urethra are found gummed together. By 
pressing along on the under side of the penis, a small 
quantity of discharge may be expelled. The discharge 
may be simply a clear mucus, which is usually prostatic 



6 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

secretion, or it may be milky or purulent. While this 
discharge remains, coitus, sexual excitement, exposure to 
cold, exciting foods .and drinks, etc., may be sufficient 
to produce an increase of irritability, and the return of 
the symptoms of the original gonorrhoea. 

Sometimes the character of the discharge passes 
through the same changes in recovery, though in in- 
verse order, as are noted in the Outset of the disease. 
After a time, the discharge ceases to be virulent, and 
comes to consist almost entirely of mucus, as at first. 

The true discharge of gleet is either transparent or of 
the appearance of milk and water, and the yellowish 
white discharge is due to chronic gonorrhoea, a condition 
in which the disease becomes chronic in an earlier stage 
than gleet. Properly speaking, the term gleet should be 
confined to the condition in which the milk-and-water 
discharge is present, the transparent discharge indicat- 
ing simply a slightly increased activity of the urethral 
glands, or catarrh of the mucous follicles. The last- 
named condition may fairly be considered as closely re- 
lated to gleet, however, since the milk-and-water dis- 
charge is so prone to return on exposure to any of the 
excesses named as likely to produce a relapse. 

The continuance of the discharge in the form of gleet, 
is often the result of improper or incomplete treatment 
of the gonorrhceal disease. Not infrequently it is due 
to chronic inflammation of some of the deep portions of 
the urethra, to morbid growths resulting from the gon- 
orrhceal inflammation, or to stricture of some portion of 
the canal. It may also arise from inflammation of some 
of the glands connected with the urethra, continuing 
after the gonorrhceal inflammation has subsided. 

The disease is likely to be perpetuated by bad bodily 
conditions, as scrofula, rheumatism, gout, and general 
grossness of the system. It may also be kept up by im- 
proper habits of diet, by indulgence in sexual inter- 
course, intemperance, the use of tobacco, and similar 
causes. It was held by the earlier writers on this sub- 
ject that gleet was not contagious. Modern observa- 
tions have established beyond controversy the fact that 
any discharge from the urethra following gonorrhoea, 
with the exception of the simple transparent catarrhal 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 



discharge above described, may be communicated. It 
is at least established that the disease may be commu- 
nicated, or at least at any time transformed into a com- 
municable discharge, by any of the excesses which set 
up urethral irritability. The effects of gonorrhoea upon 
the general health, when the disease is at all severe, are 
very marked. The individual loses flesh, assumes a list- 
less appearance, is pale, and the general strength is 
materially impaired. 

Gonorrhoea of the prepuce, or foreskin, commonly 
known as balanitis, may result from want of cleanliness, 
or from exposure of the parts to cold, as in sitting upon 
the damp ground. The proper remedies are thorough 
cleanliness, and the application of a little lime-water or 
astringent solution if the affection is at all obstinate. 

Treatment. — The severity of an attack of gonorrhoea 
depends, first, upon the virulency of the disease in the 
person from whom it is received, and secondly, upon the 
condition of the system of the individual receiving it. 
The worst cases of gonorrhoea are those seen in per- 
sons who have contracted the disease during a debauch, 
when the system was exhausted by dissipation and in- 
flamed by alcohol. The first measure of treatment 
consists in rest. If the individual is so situated that 
he can go to bed at once, and remain quiet in a hor- 
izontal position, the severity of the disease will be 
greatly mitigated, and its course shortened by this pro- 
cedure alone. The controlling influence of rest upon 
this disorder is so great that some eminent physicians 
have recommended rest, cleanliness, and a light diet as 
the only measures of treatment needed, if faithfully car- 
ried out. 

The diet should be unstimulating in character. Flesh 
foods, tea, coffee, and condiments should be discarded. 
The patient should confine himself to a diet consist- 
ing chiefly of milk, grains, and fruit. To render urinat- 
ing less irritating to the inflamed surfaces, an abun- 
dance of warm or hot water should be taken. From six 
to twelve glasses should be taken in the course of the 
day, preferably one hour before each meal, and half an 
hour before retiring at night. If obliged to be on the 
feet, the parts should be sustained by a proper suspen- 






8 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

sory bandage. The bowels must be kept open by the 
liberal use of fruit, and, if necessary, the employment 
of the enema. Tobacco must be wholly avoided, as its 
influence upon the disease is in the highest degree per- 
nicious. 

The patient should take a*daily sponge bath in tepid 
water, to be followed by vigorous rubbing of the surface. 

Among the local measures to be employed, we at- 
tach the greatest importance to the hot urethral 
douche, hot sponging of the parts, and the warm sitz 
bath. These afford the greatest relief to the symptoms 
which give rise to suffering and inconvenience in the 
disease, and exert a decided influence upon its duration. 
If given at the very beginning of the attack, the hot 
urethral douche, if thoroughly employed, will in most 
cases effect a cure in from two or three days to a 
week. It should be given as follows : — 

The Urethral Douche. — Obtain five or six feet of rub- 
ber tubing, such as is usually employed with the fount- 
ain syringe. Also procure a gum elastic catheter, 
about number eight in size. Purchase a four or six 
quart tin pail, and have a tin-smith put into the side, 
close to the bottom, a small nozzle of sufficient size to 
allow the tubing to fit snugly over it. Get a clothes-pin 
to use as a stopcock to control the flow of water through 
the tube. Get a cheap thermometer, which can be ob- 
tained at any drug store for thirty-five or fifty cents. 
Attach the catheter to the rubber tubing by slipping 
the tube over the numbered end, after first breaking off 
the small wire holders. Make the catheter fast to the 
tube by tying tight with a stout thread or strong cord, 
if necessary. Have at hand a gallon of very hot 
water and a few quarts of cold water. Put into the tin 
reservoir a quart of water at a temperature of 115°. 
Release the tube by removing the stop-cock, and let a 
small quantity of water run through the tube until it 
becomes warm. Oiling the catheter, replace the stop- 
cock, and carefully pass the catheter into the urethra, 
gradually pushing it farther back until it is very 
nearly into the bladder, or has passed beyond the point 
of greatest soreness. Now release the stop-cock, and 
allow the water to run through the tube into the ure- 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 9 

thra. The tube being smaller than the canal, the water 
will return, forcing its way along outside the catheter, 
and may be received into a convenient vessel on the 
floor while the patient sits upon the edge of a chair. 
The reservoir must, of course, be raised to a sufficient 
hight to give proper force to the stream. The force 
should not be too great, as the water may be driven back 
into the bladder. The catheter should be very carefully 
used, so as not to injure the canal, which in its inflamma- 
tory state is very sensitive. In some cases, the catheter 
can be more easily passed if the water is allowed to 
run while it is being introduced. After continuing the 
douche for three to five minutes, add to the reservoir 
another quart of water at a little higher temperature, 
say 110° or 115°, and gradually increase the tempera- 
ture of the water until it is as hot as can be borne. This 
can be conveniently done by means of an alcohol lamp 
under the tin pail, allowing it to gradually heat the 
water as it runs out. 

The douche should be continued for fifteen minutes 
to half an hour, and a temperature of 120° or 140° 
will be perfectly well borne if the increase is very grad- 
ual. The hot douche may be taken two or three times 
a day, and may be prolonged, if it is found necessary 
to give relief, to one hour each time. Hot flaxseed tea 
may be used in place of hot water, and from its lubri- 
cating qualities, has some advantages over pure water. 
This treatment prevents the high degree of inflamma- 
tion which gives rise to exudate in the tissues about the 
canal, causing chordee, and is one of the most effective 
means of relief of this painful condition with which we 
are acquainted. 

Another excellent means of relieving chordee and pain 
in the penis, is the hot spray, or hot sponging of the parts. 
This may be administered by pouring hot water through 
a common collander, held over the parts, or the water 
may be applied by means of a large sponge, dipped in 
hot water and squeezed over the organs. 

The warm sitz bath, temperature 95° to 100°, maybe 
taken daily with advantage. The bath should be con- 
tinued for twenty or thirty minutes, and after the bath 
the patient should be wiped dry, and go to bed, covering 



10 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

up warm in order to avoid taking cold. When urination 
is difficult, the urine may be passed in the sitz bath, often 
without pain, though quite impossible at other times. 

Bubo, or inflammation of the glands in the groins, 
sometimes results from neglect to rest as directed, the 
inflammation being transmitted through the lymphatics 
to these parts. When this symptom appears, a person 
should consider rest in bed imperative. He should apply 
hot fomentations over the painful lumps, continuing 
them fifteen or twenty minutes, three or four times a 
day. If necessary for relief, the hot applications may be 
made continuously, or thick poultices of linseed may be 
employed. 

In conclusion, we would warn the sufferer from this 
disease against the use of strong and irritating injections. 
An infinite amount of mischief has been done by the 
use of strong solutions of nitrate of silver, sulphate of 
copper or blue vitriol, and similar irritating drugs. 
While it is undoubtedly the case that these substances 
sometimes produce good results, they so much more 
frequently aggravate the disease that their use is to be 
unreservedly condemned. The best specialists long 
since discarded them. If other injections than simple 
hot water are to be employed, which we think unnec- 
essary in ordinary cases, they should be very mild in- 
deed. They may consist of sulphate of zinc or nitrate 
of silver, but should never be stronger than half a grain 
to a grain to the ounce of distilled water. A better 
preparation for use in these cases is the distilled extract 
of hamamelis, one part to three of water. We would 
repeat, however, that we consider these injections of 
very little account, and have for some time almost en- 
tirely discarded their use in favor of the hot water in- 
jections employed as described. 

A word of caution should be added respecting the use 
of the syringe, in case injections are employed. There 
is great danger that harm may be done by the use of 
this instrument. A syringe with a nozzle should never 
be used. The only form of syringe proper for use is one 
made with a conical end, the orifice being placed in the 
meatus, and kept in position by pressure while the injec- 
tion is made into the canal. Syringes with long nozzles 



VENEREAL DISEASES. ■ 11 

become a source of infection, carrying the disease back- 
ward from the anterior extremity of the canal, and often 
producing serious injury by rubbing off some portion of 
the inflamed and sensitive membrane. The fluid should 
not be injected with such force as to project it back into 
the bladder ; but the whole urethral canal should be 
filled, and the fluid brought in contact with every part 
by carefully rubbing along the course of the urethra 
while the fluid is retained, keeping the syringe in position 
after the injection has been made. 

Gonorrhoea Ophthalmia. — A person suffering with 
gonorrhoea will sometimes, through carelessness, com- 
municate the disease to the eye, causing most virulent 
inflammation, which may result in destruction of sight. 

In such a case, a thorough and competent oculist 
should be consulted at once. 

Gleet. — As has already been explained, the disease 
particularly known by this name is that characterized 
by a milk-and-water discharge from the urethra, unac- 
companied by symptoms of inflammation or any consid- 
erable degree of irritability. The disease is commonly 
the result of an incomplete cure of gonorrhoea, of which 
it constitutes the fourth stage. It is held by some spe- 
cialists that when gleet exists, a stricture is always pres- 
ent. The urethral contraction may be very slight ; it 
may, indeed, consist of so slight a degree of narrowing 
of the canal that an ordinary examination would not 
reveal its presence ; and yet it is sufficient to prevent 
proper cleansing of the canal, and to cause the retention 
of the secretion, thus perpetuating the disease. In some 
cases, the discharge is maintained by chronic inflamma- 
tion of some portion of the urethra. It is almost always 
to be found at one end or the other of the canal. 

It is held by some that the disease is not contagious ; 
but from observation as well as the testimony of eminent 
physicians, we believe this disorder to be thoroughly 
contagious. While it may sometimes exist in so mild a 
form that it will not be communicated, a gleety dis- 
charge, when present, may at any time be aggravated by 
cold, excessive venery, or other causes of irritation, to 
such an extent that it will become highly contagious, 
and may excite a virulent gonorrhceal inflammation. 



12 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

Several eminent specialists in the diseases of women 
have recently pointed out the fact that married women 
frequently suffer with obscure and very obstinate dis- 
eases of the womb and ovaries, which evidently arise 
from infection received from their husbands, who before 
marriage had suffered with gonorrhoea, which they had 
supposed was cured. 

A man who has suffered with gonorrhoea has no busi- 
ness to marry while there is the slightest degree of 
discharge remaining. 

Treatment. — The hot urethral douche, sitz baths, and 
mild astringent solutions are as useful in the treatment 
of gleet as in gonorrhoea, although their use must be 
more persistent, very much longer time being required 
to effect results than in the acute stages of the disease. 
A case of gleet of three years' standing, under the 
author's care a year or two ago, was cured in three 
weeks by the hot urethral douche alone, with sitz baths, 
restricted diet, and attention to the general health, 
and the disease did not return. Every case will not 
yield as promptly to treatment ; but persevering use 
of the measures named will effect a cure in all cases 
except those in which stricture exists. 

In a large proportion of these cases, however, there is 
undoubtedly some degree of narrowing of the urethral 
canal, even when the patient himself is not aware of 
the existence of the stricture, having no difficulty in 
passing urine, though there may be diminished force of 
the stream. In these cases it is, of course, essential 
that the stricture should be removed as the first step 
toward a permanent cure ; when, if the directions 
given are followed, the patient will rarely fail to make 
a speedy recovery. 

CHANCROID, OR SIMPLE VENEREAL ULCER. 

This disease, formerly confounded with true syphilis, 
is wholly local in character. It consists of an eating 
ulcer with a soft base, from which it is termed soft 
chancre, and is distinguished from the primary sore of 
syphilis, which has an indurated base, and is known as 
hard chancre. The ulcer is very active, eating rapidly, 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 13 

and often destroying a great amount of tissue in a short 
time. Soft chancre generally occurs upon the foreskin, 
which usually shows two or more sores. In this re- 
spect, also, it differs from hard chancre, the initial 
lesion of syphilis, which usually occurs singly. Soft 
chancre has no period of incubation ; the sore makes 
its appearance within a few hours after exposure. In 
very rare cases, several days elapse after exposure be- 
fore the ulcer is discovered. When not promptly and 
thoroughly treated, the ulcer proceeds until the most 
horrible sores imaginable result. Quite frequently, 
what is known as buboes are produced. These are due 
to inflammatory enlargement of the lymphatic glands 
of the groins, which are sometimes converted into 
dreadful abscesses. The first symptom of the formation 
of buboes is pain in one or both groins, which is greatly 
aggravated by exercise. Examination of the part 
shows one or more glands enlarged and tender. In a 
short time the swollen tissues become red ; and after 
a longer or shorter period, an abscess is formed. As 
soon as the bubo softens, it should be opened. Time is 
lost and damage done by waiting for it to open of itself. 
Phimosis, paraphimosis, and balanitis are among the 
painful complications of this disease. Sometimes the 
disease becomes chronic, a form of malady which is rec- 
ognized as incurable, and which ultimately results in 
the patient's death. 

Soft chancre is distinguished from the initial lesion 
of syphilis by the peculiarities mentioned, by a very 
profuse discharge, by the rapidly destructive character 
of the ulcer, which has a punched-out appearance, its 
edges being undermined, and by the fact that if a little 
of the discharge is transported to a raw surface on some 
other part of the body, another sore may be produced. 
It should also be added that soft chancre is unaccom- 
panied by constitutional symptoms, except such disturb- 
ances of nutrition as arise from the deleterious effects 
of the pain accompanying the discharge. 

Treatment. — The patient's diet should be exceedingly 
simple, free from meat and stimulants. He should eat 
but twice a day. Eating suppers is apt to produce pain- 
ful erections at night. The bowels should be kept open 



14 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

by the free use of fruit and grains, and the enema if 
needed. 

The first thing to be done in the line of treatment is 
cauterization of the sore. This may be done by apply- 
ing pure sulphuric, nitric, or carbolic acid. The appli- 
cation should be made with a pointed stick, and should 
be sufficiently thorough to destroy all the diseased tis- 
sues, and extend into the healthy tissues around the 
edge of the ulcer about one-eighth of an inch. The ef- 
fects of the cauterization depend entirely upon its thor- 
oughness, as the smallest point of diseased tissue not 
destroyed is sufficient to cause a reappearance of the 
disease, and more extensively than before. The action 
of the caustic may be checked at any time by the appli- 
cation of a little soda. After the application of the 
caustic, the parts should be kept carefully protected by 
lint. The ulcer should be cleansed two or three times 
a day, a little iodoform sprinkled upon it, and a new 
dressing applied. 

If there is much pain, it may be quite readily relieved 
by the hot bath, or by sponging the parts with hot water. 
Great care must be taken to prevent the contagion from 
extending to other parts of the body, as it is contagious 
upon the same individual as well as upon others. 

If buboes make their appearance, hot fomentations or 
poultices should be applied, until they are either ab- 
sorbed or softened. When softening occurs, they should 
be promptly opened. 

A person who has the misfortune to contract this dis- 
ease, should place himself in the hands of a physician at 
once. The above suggestions are made simply to indi- 
cate the rational mode of treatment, and thus place the 
patient upon his guard against the impositions which 
are often practiced by quacks and ignorant pretenders 
who not infrequently inflict great and unnecessary suf- 
fering by the severe and improper methods of treatment 
employed. 

SYPHILIS. 

This horrible disease is one of the most destructive 
and ineradicable of all human maladies. It is a constitu- 
tional disorder, and so persistent in character that when 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 15 

an individual has once been affected, it is absolutely im- 
possible to say at any subsequent time that he is wholly 
free from the disease. Though all the symptoms may 
disappear, it may still be present in the system in a latent 
state, ready to break out in some new and perhaps more 
distressing form when a favorable opportunity occurs 
by decline of the general health, through the effects of 
age, or debility arising from some other disease. It may 
often remain quiet during the lifetime of an individual, 
but appear in his children as hereditary syphilis, the 
victims of which present the most pitiable and hopeless 
aspect of physical wretchedness upon which the eye can 
rest. 

Nothing more is known of the origin of syphilis than 
has already been mentioned in remarks on venereal dis- 
eases in general ; but it is commonly believed to be a 
disease peculiar to man, though both of the other forms 
of venereal diseases are known to prevail to some ex- 
tent among lower animals, particularly gonorrhoea, 
which is not infrequent among stallions that have been 
allowed to indulge in excessive coitus. It should be re- 
marked, however, that some authorities claim to have 
introduced true syphilis in dogs and other animals by 
inoculation with virus from human beings, and a disease 
has for some time prevailed among the horses of the 
French army which presents many of the characteristic 
symptoms of syphilis. The disorder was contracted 
from a stallion imported from Persia, where the disease 
prevails to some extent, as is also the case in Syria. 

Syphilis is a highly infectious disease. It is commu- 
nicable, however, only by contact with an individual af- 
fected. The contagion may be communicated in many 
ways besides coitus. Many cases have occurred in 
which the disease was communicated by kissing. A 
person suffering with the disease may have active mani- 
festations of the malady in the mouth, and, if so, may 
communicate it by the act of kissing, provided there 
happens to be a raw surface upon the lips of the party 
kissed. Nurses suffering with the disease, commu- 
nicate it to children, who may in turn communicate it 
to other persons. On the other hand, syphilitic children 
have communicated the disease to nurses. This em- 



16 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

phasizes the importance of care on the part of those who 
employ nurses. Cases have occurred in which whole 
families have been inoculated with this terrible malady- 
through the medium of a diseased nurse. 

Syphilis may be communicated by contact with dis- 
eased articles as well as diseased persons, as the virus 
possesses a high degree of vitality, and may exist a 
considerable time independent of the body. Articles 
of household use, eating utensils, as knives and spools, 
pencils, cigar holders, dentists' instruments, cigars made 
by a syphilitic person, and numerous other articles, 
may become the vehicle by which this horrible disease 
is conveyed to innocent and unsuspecting persons. For 
example : A dry-goods merchant contracted syphilis by 
putting in his mouth a lead pencil which had been used 
by a syphilitic clerk. A doctor took the disease from 
a syphilitic friend through the medium of his pipe. 
Doubtless, numerous cases of this sort have come under 
the notice of nearly every physician of experience. 

A number of cases have come to the notice of the 
author, in which young ladies had contracted the dis- 
ease by receiving a kiss upon the lips from men who 
were at the time suffering from this destructive dis- 
order. For example : A young lady was accompanied 
home from a ball by a young man suffering with syph- 
ilis, and on reaching home, allowed him to kiss her upon 
the lips. Two or three weeks later, what she supposed 
to be a cold-sore appeared upon the lip. Knowing 
nothing of the nature of the disease, she continued to 
fondle and kiss her younger brothers and sisters as 
usual, until the disease was communicated to them. 
They in turn infected the mother. As the " cold-sore" 
upon the lip did not heal, a physician was called, who 
discovered the horrible nature of the disease ; but it 
was too late, and the health and happiness of the entire 
family was ruined forever. 

That this disease is transmitted by heredity from par- 
ents to children, is as thoroughly established as its con- 
tagiousness. Often, too, the disease makes its appear- 
ance in the offspring years after it is supposed to have 
disappeared in the parent. It is believed by many that 
scrofula and consumption are, in many cases at least, 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 17 

simply peculiar manifestations of the inherited virus of 
this disease. 

Symptoms. — The initial symptom of syphilis is an al- 
most insignificant sore, which when fully developed, is 
known as hard chancre. It is often scarcely more than 
an abrasion of the surface, accompanied by hardness of 
the surrounding- tissues. The ulcer has little tendency 
to spread, is very slightly painful, and usually heals up 
in a short time, even without treatment. The usual 
location of the chancre is upon the penis ; but it has 
been observed upon other parts of the body, as the anus, 
lips, tongue, nose, chin, eyelids, and abdomen. The 
symptoms of syphilis are usually classed under three 
heads, — primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary 
and secondary are distinct. The secondary and ter- 
tiary gradually merge into each other, so there is no di- 
viding line between them. The primary symptom, 
which consists of the chancre, makes its appearance 
from fifteen to twenty-five days after exposure. For 
forty-five or fifty days, the chancre remains as the only 
symptom of the disease. At the end of this time, the 
general symptoms which mark the secondary and ter- 
tiary stages of the disease, become apparent. The 
patient will notice a slight roseolar eruption, very simi- 
lar to the eruption of measles, which may be accom- 
panied by a slight soreness of the throat. In four to 
six weeks later, another eruption, somewhat deeper in 
color, makes its appearance. The red color after a time 
assumes a copper hue, and each spot, when it disap- 
pears, leaves a copper-colored staining of the skin. Si- 
multaneously with the occurrence of the eruption, white 
patches, known as mucous patches, appear in the 
mouth, particularly the back part of the mouth, or 
fauces, and about the nose. 

The secretion from mucous patches, as from other of 
the various manifestations of the disease, is very con- 
tagious. It is through this means that the disease is 
communicated by kissing. Curiously enough, the nor- 
mal secretions, such as saliva, milk, tears, etc., have 
not been proven to be capable of acting as a medium of 
contagion. 

Soon after the appearance of the chancre, or initial 
2 



18 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

lesion, the glands of the groin may be found to be en- 
larged. They do not suppurate, however, as in chan- 
croid. This enlargement of the glands continues un- 
til the lymphatic glands in various parts of the body 
may be enlarged, as indicated by small lumps which 
may be felt by the finger in the axilla under the arm, 
and at the back and upper part of the neck. 

Later on in the disease, manifestations of a more 
virulent form make their appearance, among which are 
pustular eruptions, eruptions of the throat and various 
parts of the body. A form of inflammation of the eye, 
known as iritis, is not uncommon. To these symp- 
toms may be added a long train of disorders too nu- 
merous for description or even mention. 

After a time, varying from one year to forty years, 
a still different set of symptoms make their appearance, 
involving chiefly the bones and hard structures of the 
body. When the bones are infected, they sometimes 
enlarge, and undergo destruction. We have seen in 
the hospitals of this country and Germany, cases in 
which portions of the skull had been destroyed, in some 
instances exposing the brain. The bones of the nose are 
very liable to be affected. At the moment of this writ- 
ing, we have under observation a case in which the 
bones in the nose and adjacent parts of the face are 
entirely destroyed, and the destructive process is still 
extending deeper into the skull with great rapidity, and 
with such persistence that nothing can stay its prog- 
ress. In this case, the patient, an innocent man, con- 
tracted the disease from an unfaithful wife. A great 
variety of diseases of the brain, nerves, heart, lungs, 
liver, digestive organs, and in fact of every organ of 
the body, owe their origin to this destructive malady. 

In Plates C, D, and E may be seen some of the re- 
sults of the disease in the parts of the body shown. 

It is generally believed that the disease is conta- 
gious only in the primary and secondary stages. It is 
entirely probable, however, that the malady is trans- 
missible by heredity in all stages. 

Treatment. — There has been much discussion and 
great diversity of opinion respecting the proper method 
of treating this formidable disease. Originally, it was 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 19 

thought necessary that every person who had contracted 
syphilis should be thoroughly mercurialized ; and for 
many years this measure was often employed to such 
an extent as to render the patient's life unbearable in 
consequence of the mercurial poisoning, which fre- 
quently did greater damage than the disease for which 
the drug was administered. Many years ago, the em- 
inent Dr. Bennett, of Edinburgh, Scotland, made a care- 
ful study of the matter, as the result of which he arrived 
at the conclusion that mercury was not only unneces- 
sary, but absolutely harmful in the management of 
syphilitic disorders. He held that syphilis is a self- 
limited disease. That the system makes vigorous ef- 
forts to free itself from the poison which has been intro- 
duced, and that it would be just as sensible to try to 
dry up a small-pox eruption as to give medicine to a 
syrJhilitic case for the purpose of causing the disap- 
pearance of the symptoms of the disease. 

Dr. Bennett holds that the disease can be much more 
successfully treated without mercury than by its use, 
and cites not only hundreds but thousands of cases 
which were treated without mercury, and he claims 
that it was with much better results than when the 
drug had been employed. It is noticeable to all who 
are familiar with the disease that the most horrible 
phases of the malady are much less frequent than a 
quarter of a century ago, when mercury was much 
more freely used than now. At the present time, the 
administration of mercury is usually in small doses, the 
effect of which is of course much less harmful than the 
large doses formerly believed to be indispensable. 

Dr. Bennett's idea respecting the influence of mer- 
cury upon the disease is, that it simply causes a ces- 
sation of symptoms, without curing the fundamental 
morbid processes which are at work in the body, and 
by thus checking the remedial efforts of the system, 
causes the poison to be retained in a latent state, ready 
to break out again in its various forms whenever prov- 
ocation or a favorable opportunity occurs. Dr. Ben- 
nett seems to establish this point by referring to the 
fact that relapses are much less frequent among those 
who have not been treated by mercury than among those 
are treated in the orthodox way. 



20 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

From personal observation, we are inclined to be- 
lieve that mercury is not an essential means of treat- 
ment in this disease, although it may seem in many 
cases to effect a more speedy cessation of the symp- 
toms than would be likely to occur without it. We 
have treated a considerable number of cases of this sort 
successfully, and have never found it necessary to ad- 
minister a single grain of mercury in any form what- 
ever. We have come to the conclusion that the most 
successful manner of treating syphilis is in the same 
way that any other disease known to be produced by 
the impurities in the system would be most properly 
treated ; namely, by eliminative treatment coupled with 
such measures as will build up the general health in 
every way possible. Some of the worst cases of the 
disorder which have come under our notice have been 
those in which mercury had been very freely used, and 
was undoubtedly largely responsible for the wretched 
state in which we found the patients. Dr. Bennett 
calls attention to the fact that mercury alone will pro- 
duce many of the horrible conditions which have been 
attributed to syphilis. He gives in his work a cut of the 
skeleton of a dog which had been mercurialized, which 
we reproduce in Fig. 1, Plate C. Compare the ap- 
pearance of the bones of the dog with that of the arm 
bone of a man, shown in Fig. 2 of the same plate, from 
a patient who died of tertiary syphilis. It is evident to 
the eye, at least, that the condition is identical ; is it 
not probable that the cause is identical also ? 

We sometimes employ potassium iodide for the pur- 
pose of restraining destructive processes which might 
result in deformity or great injury, not however with 
the idea that the drug will act in a curative way, but 
simply for the purpose of restraining the activity of the 
poison until it can be eliminated by the natural efforts 
of the system, the only way in which any disease due 
to the reception of poison into system can be eradi- 
cated. The diet should be simple, wholesome, and easy 
of digestion. Spices, pepper, and condiments of all 
sorts should be discarded. The use of tobacco in any 
form and alcoholics must also be strictly forbidden. 
The patient must give the best attention to the gen- 
eral health in every way possible. 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 21 

The initial lesion, or hard chancre, if discovered early, 
should be cut out, and the sore treated as any other sim- 
ple sore. Cauterizing with nitric acid, chromic acid, 
or pure carbolic acid, is sometimes practiced, instead of 
excision. After removal or cauterization, the disease 
should be treated as soft chancre. The disease cannot 
be prevented by cutting out the chancre, even at an 
early date, as it is not a local affection, but simply a 
manifestation of the disease, in which the* whole body 
is implicated ; but by removal early it is possible that 
the degree of infection may be to some extent con- 
trolled. 

If the secondary symptoms of the disease make their 
appearance, the patient should have the advantages of 
rest, and protection from danger by, taking cold, and 
an abundance of sunshine and fresh air. Frequent 
eliminative baths should be taken, such as Russian, va- 
por, or Turkish baths, two or three times a week. By 
the aid of this treatment, the eruptions will usually 
disappear in a short time, and if the eliminative treat- 
ment and careful regimen are continued long enough, 
the tertiary symptoms will not make their appearance. 
If the patient is very weak, or of feeble constitution, 
the treatment employed should be such as will improve 
the general strength. Hot baths should not be admin- 
istered with such frequency as to have a weakening 
effect. 

Ulceration and other disorders belonging to the third 
stage should be treated on much the same principles 
that a similar condition would be treated when arising 
from some other disease. 

Several questions of special interest are connected 
with this disease, which must receive proper considera- 
tion. 

1. Is syphilis curable ? 

This question is often asked a physician who has much 
to do with patients suffering with this disease. The 
answer may vary with different physicians, as there is 
still much diversity of opinion ; but the belief in the cura- 
bility of the disease is gaining ground among physicians, 
and many who formerly regarded it as incurable, now 
believe it curable, when sufficient time is allowed. Some 



22 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

eminent French physicians claim that the disease natu- 
rally runs its course in one and a half or two years, by 
the end of which time the poison is supposed to be en- 
tirely eliminated, provided the disease has progressed 
favorably. This is probably a somewhat too favorable 
view of the case ; but there seems to be no reasonable 
ground for believing that by persistent efforts the disease 
may not be finally conquered, and expelled from the 
system, though the length of time required to bring 
about this result cannot be stated with any accuracy. 
Indeed, it is never possible to say of any individual who 
has had syphilis, that he is wholly and certainly free from 
the disease. It may be said, in general, that a person 
who has been contaminated with this fearful poison, 
should continue the most careful regimen and thorough 
treatment, not only until every symptom of the disease 
has disappeared, but for several years afterward. Indeed, 
the only safety for such an individual lies in a life of the 
greatest sobriety and pains-taking avoidance of every 
habit of life which may in any degree undermine the 
general health. A person who will do this, may feel a 
reasonable confidence that the horrible malady will be 
held in check, and perhaps ultimately entirely wiped 
out. 

2. Is it proper for a man who has suffered from syph- 
ilis to marry ? 

This question is sometimes one of the most unpleasant 
with which a physician ever has to deal ; yet it must be 
squarely met. What shall be said in reply to it ? There 
are usually two things to be taken into account in the 
case of a person who has suffered from syphilis : a. He 
has been guilty of gross immorality ; b. He has con- 
tracted a disease the duration of which is indefinite, and 
the curability of which is problematical. 

While he may have passed the stage in which it is 
transmissible by direct contagion, it is entirely possible 
that the morbid tendency in his constitution may be 
transmitted to his children. Is such a man fit to marry 
a woman who is physically and morally pure ? Would 
any man consider a woman whose conduct had been no 
worse, and whose condition was identical, a fit person 
for a wife ? These are questions which every syphilitic 



VENEREAL DISEASES. 23 

man should face squarely, and consider fairly. It would 
be well, indeed, if every man would consider these 
questions before he becomes syphilitic. One thing we 
may say without the slightest reserve : A syphilitic man 
has no business to offer himself as a husband to a pure, 
uncontaminated woman, without plainly telling her the 
facts respecting his condition. What man would be will- 
ing to see a favorite sister whom he knew to be physically 
and morally pure, bound to a man who had lived a life 
of sensuality, and whose body, in consequence, had be- 
come contaminated by this most horrible of all human 
maladies ? If you are a syphilitic, and desire to marry, 
consider that the woman whom you are asking to become 
your wife is somebody's sister. Consider yourself, for a 
moment, her brother, and some other man the suitor. 
What would your advice be to her ? Though you may 
not communicate the disease to your wife, your children 
may be weak, scrofulous, or syphilitic. Have you any 
right to bring into the world such unhappy creatures ? 
The children of such fathers swarm the hospitals in 
every large city. 

It is true that children apparently healthy are often the 
result of such unions ; but no man can say at what 
moment, during the life of such a child, some horrible 
symptom may make its appearance ; and it is well 
known to experienced physicians that not infrequently, 
syphilitic fathers beget syphilitic children, even after 
having begotten one or more children apparently healthy. 
We leave it for the reader's own conscience and judg- 
ment to decide whether the man who contracts syphilis 
as the result of his own immoralities does not thereby 
forfeit his right to become the father of children, and the 
husband of a woman whose body is healthy, and morals 
uncontaminated. 

The author is aware that many physicians do not 
look upon this matter in the light here presented ; and 
it" is unquestionably true that almost any syphilitic who 
did not at the time suffer active symptoms of the disease, 
might readily obtain medical sanction of marriage ; 
nevertheless, the author feels justified in the position he 
has taken upon this point, and would urge those medical 
men who unhesitatingly sanction the marriage of men 



24 VENEREAL DISEASES. 

whose constitutions have been thoroughly syphilized, to 
bring the matter close home to their own consciences, 
and consider whether the progeny of such men will be. 
likely to be such representatives of the race as ought to 
compose the generation to come. 

In conclusion, we would most earnestly urge young 
men who read these lines to consider with the greatest 
seriousness the terrible consequences of vice, and to 
consider further the fact that all the most horrible 
physical disasters which can arise from the disease 
described in this chapter, may be the result of one single 
departure from the path of virtue. 





' 




Sinai paeatia 

or Ctrieului 



Vawptti Gland 



P~J>1 



PLATE A. 




Fig. I. 




Fig. 2. 



PLATE B— Bladder and Testis. 




Fig. 1. Mercury. 





Fig. 3. 




PLATE C— Effects of Mercury and Syphillis 




PLATE D. Effects of Syphilids. 




PLATE E. 




PLATE III.— The Arteries and Veins. 




PLATE V.— The Nerves. 






3= 




PLATE VII.— Low Forms of Life. 




PLATE IX.— Sex in Plants. 




PLATE XXII. 



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